. . . she should never have reached 15 before anything was decided. I assume Iceland keeps birth records like the U.S. Simply enter the name and gender in the computer that's going to generate the birth certificate and it can reject it if they don't match. This was possible to do 15 years ago. Leaving a law to be enforced by a priest is what's idiotic.

Yes, the child has no authority to change his/her name, but as I said, they get through it. My name is Kelly and I'm male. Don't think I didn't get teased a lot for having a "girl's" name. But there are other ways around names. I knew a guy named Stacey, but he went by Ace. I knew of many people who didn't like their names and arranged with teachers beforehand to be called something they prefered, usually a different version of the name or a middle name. Filling out a legal/goverment document is not going to significantly harm the child, and when they apply for a job as a minor, it can be explained.

If the name is so bad, say "Satan" or "Shithead" do you really think anyone besides the parents are going to call that child by that name? This is where the community steps in to help, similar to churches or non-profits helping the poor instead of the government doing something poorly and over budget. The family or friends of the parents can put social pressure on the parents not to do something completey fucking stupid. The government is simply not needed.