[ANSTHRLD] House Porto - Household name and badge

[tmcd@panix.com]

ED Reese <edreese at m7bedlam.com> wrote:
> not entirely sure what the language in question is

The Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary says, at
<http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=porto>
    city & port NW Portugal on the Douro population 310,600
so Portuguese is very likely.

> would it be possible to change the end to a plural, and this avoid
> the conflict, and make it even clearer it is the name, not the
> place?

I don't see how it could make sense to have the plural of a place name
as a house name.  Does "House Amarillos" make sense, for example?

(I cannot recommend house armadillos, by the way: they have sharp
claws and may shred your furniture.  Also, they're the only animals
other than humans that can get leprosy; a Texas fellow who had the
habit of wrestling armadillos for fun came down with Hansen's Disease
a few years back.  And don't get the house amaretto.  Spring for a
name brand of liqueur. .... OK, enough lame free association.)

If the answer is "It's a house composed of people who are surnamed
<X>, for some <X>":
- house names are usually in the singular in English, as in "the House
  of Plantagenet" (c.f. "the Plantagenets") or "the House of Stuart"
  (c.f. "the Stuarts").  I don't know from Portuguese, though.
- I would see "the House of Yorks", for example, as being just as
  presumptuous as "the House of York".  On the other hand, this is a
  conflict case, not a presumption case.

They can't go with the plain plural as in "the Plantagenets" or "the
Stuarts", because the SCA College of Arms Rules for Submission
requires a designator of some sort (Barony, House, Order, Guild, or
whatever).  But even when they add a designator, it's transparent for
purposes of conflict, so "House Oporto", "Order of Oporto", "Barony of
Oporto", "Oporto Herald", et cetera, all conflict with the city of
Oporto.

Daniel de Lincolia
--
Tim McDaniel, tmcd at panix.com; tmcd at us.ibm.com is my work address