Re: Páll Stephensen 1916-1982 Vestmannayarsökn
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In reply to:
Pu00e1ll Stephensen 1916-1982 Vestmannayarsu00f6kn
Jon Stephensen 3/20/12
I don't have the church records at hand - I only have copies of the Vestmanaeyja parishes until 1914, but I don't think this is much of a mystery.
However, I don't understand what you expect to gain from the baptism records - the entry probably only includes his given name anyhow, not the family name.
Anyhow, I expect there are two reasons why he used Stephensen instead of Ottesen.
One is just a simple matter of snobbery.The Stephensen family name was simply much older (going back to Ólafur Stephensen, born 1731) and more respected than the Ottesen name (which only goes back to Valdemar Ottesen, born 1868)
The other reason is that his parents died while he was a child, and he was raised by his mother's family - in the 1930 census he is with his maternal grandfather, Páll Stephensen at Lindargata 41 in Reykjavík, so he grep up as a member of the Stephensen family, not the Ottesen family.