HEL BANNED IN ICELAND
Abridged from Iceland Monitor
Abridged from Iceland Monitor
Icelandic Naming Committee has just ruled that Hel cannot be used as a name in Iceland.
Hel is a goddess in Norse mythology. She rules the underworld, and it has the same name as her. She is one of Loki’s three children, along with the Miðgarðsormur [World Serpent] and Fenrisúlfur [Fenris Wolf]. The word hel also means hell in Icelandic.
The committee says there is a risk of the name being a nuisance for the name’s bearer, given that Hel refers to death and Hel’s underworld kingdom.
There are strict laws on what names are allowed in Iceland and all disputes are settled by the Icelandic Naming Committee. The point of the committee is both to preserve Icelandic language, as all names have to fit into Icelandic and its rules, and to protect people from receiving names that might trouble them in the future.
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