Jón Gnarr’s Name Change Involved FBI Background Check

Former Reykjavík mayor Jón Gnarr’s name-changing process involved having his criminal background assessed by the FBI. “Unbelievably”, he had no criminal record, he says.

In a recent radio interview, Nútíminn reports, Jón Gnarr recounted the process he went through to change his name to be legally known as Jón Gnarr. While Icelandic authorities had prevented him from making this change, he was able to get it done in Texas, but not without some special conditions.

“I even went to the police,” he told listeners. “To their crime lab, where my fingerprints were taken, which were then sent to the FBI, who ran my fingerprints to see whether I was some wanted criminal who was trying to flee justice by changing my name.”

Jón took the matter with good humour, though, saying that he had no criminal record. “Unbelievable but true,” he said. “Because you can’t remember everything you might have done.”

He then spent the whole day in court, where he was called before a judge and made to “swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, otherwise God would help me.”

His testimony was apparently convincing enough, as he was awarded the name change at the end of the hearing.