Iceland Genealogy

Guide to Iceland ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, and military records.

Country Information
Iceland is an island between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans settled by Vikings in 874. It was governed by Denmark from 1381 to 1944, when it gained full independence as a Republic. The official language is Icelandic.

Getting Started


Finding Your Ancestors' Town in Iceland

 * Genealogical records are organized by geographical locality. Civil registration (government birth, marriage, and death records) and church records (christenings/baptisms, marriages, and burials) were kept at the local level. To search these records, you must know the town where your ancestors lived.
 * If you do not know your ancestors' town, follow the advice in the Wiki article, Iceland Finding Town of Origin, to search a variety of records that might provide that information.

Iceland Map
Genealogy records are kept on the local level in Iceland.

More Iceland Research Tools
Research tools can include resources that assist in locating correct records to search and determining the correct locality to search in. Below are links and Wiki articles to research tools in Iceland.
 * Census Headings
 * Íslenski Ættfræðivefurinn - Iceland GenWeb
 * The National Archives Census Database
 * Iceland GenWeb
 * Icelandic Association of Utah
 * Icelandic-Spanish Fork-Vigdis Johnson
 * Libweb - Directory of Libraries in Iceland
 * The Emigration from Iceland to North America
 * Íslendingabók
 * Þjóðskjalasafn Íslands - Iceland Archives
 * Icelandic Roots

FamilySearch Resources
Below are FamilySearch resources that can assist you in researching your family.
 * Facebook Communities - Facebook groups discussing genealogy research
 * Learning Center - Online genealogy courses
 * Historical Records
 * Family History Center locator map
 * Catalog