<P> First names not previously used in Iceland must be approved by the Icelandic Naming Committee (Icelandic: Mannanafnanefnd) before being used . The criterion for acceptance of names is whether they can be easily incorporated into the Icelandic language . With some exceptions, they must contain only letters found in the Icelandic alphabet (including þ and ð), and it must be possible to decline the name according to the language's grammatical case system, which in practice means that a genitive form can be constructed in accordance with Icelandic rules . </P> <P> Gender - inappropriate names are normally not allowed; however, in January 2013, a 15 - year - old girl named Blær (a masculine noun in Icelandic) was allowed to keep this name in a court decision that overruled an initial rejection by the naming committee . Her mother Björk Eiðsdóttir did not realize at the time that Blær was considered masculine; she had read a novel by Halldór Laxness, The Fish Can Sing (1957), that had an admirable female character named Blær, meaning "light breeze", and had decided that if she had a daughter, she would name her Blær . </P> <P> A man named Jón Einarsson has a son named Ólafur . Ólafur's last name will not be Einarsson like his father's; it will become Jónsson, literally indicating that Ólafur is the son of Jón (Jóns + son). The same practice is used for daughters . Jón Einarsson's daughter Sigríður's last name would not be Einarsson but Jónsdóttir . Again, the name literally means "Jón's daughter" (Jóns + dóttir). </P> <P> In some cases, an individual's surname is derived from a parent's middle name instead of the first name . For example, if Jón is the son of Hjálmar Arnar Vilhjálmsson he may either be named Jón Hjálmarsson (Jón, son of Hjálmar) or Jón Arnarsson (Jón, son of Arnar). The reason for this may be that the parent prefers to be called by the middle name instead of the first name; this is fairly common . It may also be that the parent's middle name seems to fit the child's first name better . </P>

Where does the last name way come from