The Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory - SCA Heraldry

The Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory:The Rules for SubmissionsA name is said to presume on a protected name if it is not substantially different in sound and appearancefrom it or creates an unmistakable claim to close relationship with that protected individual in any of theforms we protect. The standards for substantial difference and unmistakable relationship claims are set out inPN.3 above as "identity conflict" and "relationship conflict" respectively, except that such items are notregisterable, even with permission.People from all periods of history including the present may be important enough to protect. Given the natureof the Society, people who lived within the scope of our period are somewhat more likely to be consideredimportant enough to protect than people from other places and times. For individuals important enough toprotect, we protect all forms in which their name was known, including in other languages, but nothypothetical forms. We only protect names that are used either today or in the time when they were alive torefer to these protected persons.For example, we protect Christopher Columbus, Cristobal Colon, Christophorus Columbus, etc. as these wereknown forms of the name of the famous explorer. However, while Carlos V of Spain was also the count ofBarcelona, we do not protect him as Carlos of Barcelona, as his name was not recorded or referenced in thisform.1. Non-SCA People Protected from Presumption: A personal name submission is only considered topresume on protected personal names. Names of important non-SCA individuals are protected frompresumption. People who are not important enough to have an entry in a standard print encyclopedia, suchas the Encyclopedia Britannica, are generally not important enough to protect. Newly famous individualsmay rarely be considered important enough to protect even if they have not yet appeared in a printencyclopedia. Individuals who do have an entry must be further considered. People are consideredimportant enough to protect if they meet the following standards.Sovereign rulers of significant states are generally important enough to protect. Some historical city-statesare not considered significant states. Provinces or regions integrated into larger units like the Holy RomanEmpire are not generally considered significant states. Sovereigns of small states that did not give risedirectly to modern countries will not be protected under this clause, nor will legendary kings of any state(though these kings may be individually important enough to protect).Individuals whose names are recognized by a significant number of people in the Society without having tolook them up in a reference are generally important enough to protect. Individuals recognized only byspecialists in a subject are unlikely to be important enough to protect. Individuals who are only recognizedwith the assistance of reference books are unlikely to be important enough to protect.Individuals whose work and/or life are still influential today are generally important enough to protect.Those whose work significantly shaped the course of world history, science, or the arts are generallyimportant enough to protect. This is generally measured by examining measures like the length ofencyclopedia articles about the person and his/her work, numbers of search engine hits for the individual,and the like.Fictional characters may also be considered important enough that their names need to be protected.Fictional characters are generally important enough to protect when two conditions are met. They are: a) asignificant number of people in the Society recognize the character's name without prompting and b) the useof the name would generally be considered by those people a clear reference to that character.Even if a piece of armory is not considered important enough to protect from presumption, the use of a pieceof historical armory combined with the family name of the holder may be presumptuous. For details, see A.6,Presumption below.Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory – April 29, 2012 - Page 19 of 73