Why is iceland named iceland?

He therefore named the country Ísland (‘Iceland’) and it has been known as such ever since. Hrafna-Flóki later returned and became one of Iceland’s permanent settlers. Before Hrafna-Flóki gave the country a name that stuck, two other Norse seafarers had named it too. read more

Exactly as Joseph Boyle says: advertising. Greenland was named by Eric the Red, who lived there for a period of time and then wanted to establish a new settlement. read more

Thus, Iceland was named by a sad Viking and Greenland is the slogan of a medieval marketing scheme. “It is unfortunate that the name Greenland stuck because that is not the name that the natives know it by,” Guðni says. read more