Petition Seeks to Restore Icelandic Name Tradition for Euro 2016
A petition has been kicked off by Iceland supporters in order to get the national team to use the players' first names on the shirts, in line with Icelandic naming traditions.
Last week, the Icelandic FA announced that the Iceland Euro 2016 shirts would feature the last names of the players, just like the kits used in the qualifiers did.
In Iceland, most last names derive from the first name of the mother or father; for the example A man named Jón Einarsson has a son named Ólafur. Ólafur’s last name will not be Einarsson like his father’s; it will become Jónsson, literally indicating that Ólafur is the son of Jón (Jóns + son) (via Wikipedia). Hence, the Iceland national team players are commonly known by their first names and not their last names in Iceland.
Interestingly, the Icelandic FA also confirmed that the new Iceland Euro 2016 kits, made by long-term supplier Erreà, will already be debuted later this month.
