Surname law matronym from the name of a parent or parent-in-law; these possibilities are not necessarily open to native Icelanders. Reza Shah Pahlavi ordered Iranians to adopt Western style surnames in place of old Islamic names and titles during his reign. A law in Japan dating from 1896 requires a married couple to have a common surname. Most commonly it was the wife who took her husband's name. In 2011, this law was challenged as unconstitutional on gender equality grounds, but the Supreme Court of Japan upheld the law in 2015. Prussia tasked the implementation of surnames to E. T. A. Hoffmann.
Lithuanian name married woman usually adopts her husband's name. However, other combinations are legally possible. The wife may keep her maiden name ("mergautinė pavardė") or add her husband's surname to hers, thus creating a double-barrelled name. It is also possible, though rare, for the husband to adopt his wife's surname or to add his wife's surname to his family name. Family names first appeared in Lithuania ca. end of 14th century beginning 15th century and were only reserved to the Lithuanian nobility. They usually derived from patronymics. The most striking peculiarity of the historical Lithuanian heraldic system, which is adopted from the