Iceland, in common with Germany and Denmark, has a list of names which parents are allowed to use.

Officials say the 'Personal Names Register', which contains over three thousand approved names, exists in order to protect children from embarrassment and ensure that names fit Icelandic grammar and pronunciation rules.

Parents who have their own ideas, and don't want to take a name from the list, have to apply to a special committee that has the power to rule yes or no to the chosen name.

In the case of Blaer Bjarkardottir, whose first name means means "light breeze" in Icelandic, her mother said she learned the name wasn't on the register only after the priest who baptized the child later informed her he had mistakenly allowed it.

"I had no idea that the name wasn't on the list, the famous list of names that you can choose from," said Bjork Eidsdottir, adding she knew a Blaer whose name was accepted in 1973.

The panel turned the name down on the grounds that the word Blaer takes a masculine article, despite the fact that it was used for a female character in a novel by Iceland's revered Nobel Prize-winning author Halldor Laxness.

As a consequence of the rules Blaer is identified as "Stulka" — or "girl" — on all official documents, leading to years of frustration as she repeatedly has to explain the reason for her missing moniker.