Well, I've always found Icelandic names rather intriguing. No wonder they write family sagas going back centuries. How else could they keep their own genealogy from bleeding all over the landscape?
Many foreigners who visit Iceland become confused when they look through an Icelandic telephone directory, because persons are listed alphabetically by their first name. Icelanders regard the first name as the "real" name. The last name of a person is rarely used to identify a person.
Icelandic surnames are also quite special. Surnames, which exist from generation to generation in other European cultures, are rare in Iceland. In Iceland, the father's first name is used as the base to the child's last name. For example, Baldur Þórsson and Freyja Óðinsdóttir have two children, Kristín and Björn. The children's last names would be Kristín Baldursdóttir and Björn Baldursson. It is also possible to make a last name using the name of the mother, but it is uncommon.
The same naming tradition existed in Sweden and Norway until the second part of the 19th century. In certain areas of western Sweden, it continued even longer.
Not only did the naming tradition continue, but both men and women kept their own surnames on entering marriage. So Inger Strømmesdatter (daughter of Strømme) stayed Inger Strømmesdatter after marrying Gunder Gundersen (son of Gunder). (This makes doing genealogical research on Norwegian and Swedish ancestors, at least on the female side, much easier!)
And in Germany until the 19th century, a man often took the last name of his wife in the form of "vulgo" (at the house of). So Johann Palm might become, after marrying Elizabeth Peters, Johann vulgo Peters.
Were all these women crazy and all the men wusses? For centuries? I understand we have a different culture in America, but honestly, why all the fuss if some Brazillian men want to adopt their wives' names?