[ANSTHRLD] Question for all

[kobrien at texas.net]

Q> I have recently been contacted by a SCAdian from the East Kingdom.  He has
> numerous times complained about the college of heralds and wondered how we
> went about verifying resources for documentation, what was even looked for
> in submitting a name, etc.  Now he has given me horror stories of people
> told to grab names that are not Western European (think more of Chinese,
> Japanese, etc) from like novels that are like porn novels from around that
> time period and heralds not accepting family records with the names they
> desire plainly there.

The problem with misinformation about what should be used as documentation is 
something I've seen before.  I've mostly seen it in areas where there is not 
good communication up and down the heraldic food chain.  By that, I mean that 
there is information passed up and down the path:

Local <-> Kingdom <-> Laurel

You tend to see this type of misinformation when there is a breakdown, in 
this chain.  In the first kingdom I lived in, the kingdom level did an 
exceedingly poor job of conveying information from Laurel (particularly LoAR 
rulings) down to locals.  Heck, they basically didn't do it at all so the 
locals didn't know that some books had gone onto the "don't use" list.

Since that time, I've also seen this type of breakdown when a kingdom-level 
staff regularly doesn't read LoARs (yes, it happens - not here thanks 
goodness, but I won't get nasty here and name kingdoms...)

I've also seen this type of problem in general in extremely rural areas that 
tend to have communication breakdowns with their kingdom.  Those cases tend 
to be across the board, not just in heraldry.  In those cases, you tend to 
see it also in exchequer, seneschal, etc. stuff.

Another issue I've seen in some kingdoms is that one household ends up 
dominating the heraldic staff in the kingdom and actively (whether 
intentional or not) spreads misinformation.

In the case of the person you're in contact with, I don't know where the 
breakdown is.  It may be as simple as the herald he is most in contact with 
is full of something and it ain't knowledge...



> I am curious if this is common among the colleges or is this a work in
> progress to correct?  And on a side note...where would I submit articles
> on names from other regions in the world for review and so forth?

The web has really helped resolve a lot of the problems your contact is 
seeing.  Re: web resources for SCA names, I recommend the Medieval Names 
Archive (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names) for the place to start when 
researching your name.  For heralds trying to learn what's registerabl and 
what's not, past rulings, etc., I recommend they hit the precedents page on 
the Laurel website (http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/precedents/).  In 
particular, the Compiled Name Precedents 
(http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/precedents/CompiledNamePrecedents/index.ht
ml) is a good place to start.  Right now, I've got it updated through the end 
of Shauna's tenure (wait... I see the latest update hasn't been posted yet.  
I'll ping Codex).  As soon as the precedents are finished for Francois II, 
I'll add those to the CNP as well.

One other thing.  You mentioned in particular the situation where family 
records are rejected as documentation.  That depends on the type of family 
records.  Rulings regarding that situation can be found at: 
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/precedents/CompiledNamePrecedents/Documenta
tion.html#Genealogy

Does this answer your questions?  Are there others I can help with?

Mari