A New Name for Iceland?

Iceland has launched a contest to find a more descriptive name for the contest—drawing 25,0000 submissions, from “OMGWTFLand,” to “Eyjafjlakojland,” to “Niceland.” And starting April 26, people will be able to go online to vote for the two finalists: “Let’s Get Lost Land” and “Isle of Awe Land,” The Huffington Post reports.

Officials want to make clear, though, that the “Inspired by Iceland” re-naming campaign is just that, a campaign, and that Iceland will stay Iceland. They just want to make sure that people understand that the country isn’t as cold as its name might suggest.

“A country’s name is its identity,” says Reykjavik mayor Jón Gnarr. “ But that doesn’t mean it describes it in the right way. I mean, look at Greenland.”

As HuffPo explains: “Iceland’s actual name was crafted by Raven-Flóki, a Norwegian Viking, more than 1,000 years ago. Legend has it that Flóki spent many months on the island and, as winter approached, he climbed a tall mountain to survey the land. Flóki spotted a large fjord of ice from the peak, then settled on the name ‘Iceland.’”