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( Those things which are soundly defined . . . ) 

( gory details ) Here are the results from my earlier poll on criteria for name comparisons. I've included information about the rules as they currently stand, and put a group in bold if its response agreed with the current rules.

( poll results )

Unsurprisingly, heralds are more likely to agree with the rules as they currently stand. For cases like Hob vs. Robert, this makes sense: onomastics geeks are more likely to know and care that Hob is a nickname for Robert. But why do Ronald and Donald seem too similar to some heralds, and easily distinguishable to everyone else? My hypothesis is that most people consider similarity in sound and similarity of meaning together: if two names sound similar and could be construed as two different descriptions of the same person, a conflict seems reasonable. The Rules for Submissions say there's a conflict if two names sound too similar or come too close in meaning. Just in case you're not aware of this, the SCA registers names. The SCA guarantees that a registered name will be "unique": of course, the meaning of unique is a complicated issue, especially when we're talking about plausible names for medieval people.

This is a poll about what you think uniqueness ought to mean. This is not a poll about whether names should be unique, nor is it a quiz on the rules as they currently stand; it's a philosophical exercise.

[Poll #1098571] I mailed an art meme package to yagowe yesterday.

( picture and comments ) Painted heraldic plate
Originally uploaded by ursulageorges
Does anyone have an image of a fifteenth-century Milanese man?


Here's a plate with glasseye's heraldry I painted. It doesn't have as many flowers as the original, which gives it an unintended Art Deco effect. A few days ago I was hunting through the OED to answer one of those burning questions of early modern life, namely, would it be more authentic to refer to myself in the SCA as Ursula Georges otherwise Loyall Pursevant, Ursula Georges Loyall, or just Ursula Loyall, when I chanced upon the following descriptions of a herald's duties:

They...are named ancient Herehaughtes, who haue made distinction betweene the gentle and the vngentle.

Buying Armes of the Herald, who giues them the Lyon without tongue, tayle, or tallents.

The herralde to blason their descente from an old house.

1598, Jonson
The first red herring that was broil'd in Adam and Eve's kitchen, doe I fetch my pedigree from by the Harrots bookes.

and a little out of period:

1687, Dryden
Do you not know that for a little coin Heralds can foist a name into the line?

From this data I conclude that, although heralds in the SCA are criticised justly and unjustly for all sorts of things, they have been remiss in their efforts to recreate one of the more renowned (albeit late-period) abuses of heraldic power, namely, taking money to create false genealogies. I feel that therefore, in the interests of authenticity, I should point out that I am VERY HAPPY to be bribed to make up genealogies, and can in fact use my onomastic skill to invent a lengthy and plausible genealogy for your persona at a moment's notice. 

[Same game.]