1. All names, words, phrases, and languages used in a Society name must either be from period (i.e., have been used before 1600) or accepted by the College of Arms as consistent with period naming practices.

2. All words, word order, spelling and grammar must be correct for the languages used.

3. Names that were created after 1600 may be submitted and judged on a case-by-case basis. Such names should follow period linguistic traditions. They may not be strings of random phonemes, nor may they break any of the other rules.

4. Society names may be submitted by themselves to the College. They need not be accompanied by the submission of a device or badge. However, a device or badge submission must include a Society name to which it can be registered. Society names may be changed by resubmitting the new name as a name change, which must then pass through the same process as a new name.

5. Society names may not conflict with other registered Society names or with important names in the mundane world, past or present, or in myth or fiction. This includes claims of relationship as well as direct conflict.

6. The Society name of an individual must consist of a given name and at least one byname. Documented diminutives of given names are acceptable as given names.

7. A Society name for an individual may not use more than three languages, whose cultures had substantial contact in period. No one element (a single word or phrase) of a name may combine languages. Prepositions and adjectives must be of the same language as the noun they accompany.

8. Any member may use elements of his/her legal name as the corresponding elements of his/her Society name, without the necessity of period documentation. Such name elements may not be intrusively modern, nor used in such a way as to violate any other rule concerning names. A member’s Society name may not be identical to his/her mundane name.

9. A Society name may not include titles, honors, membership in orders, or surnames that would imply that one is a member of a royal family or is of royal birth, no matter if it is a part of his/her mundane name.

10. A member may not claim to be of divine, non-human, or extra-terrestrial origin or descent.

11. Names that would prove offensive to a significant segment of the SCA, or of the population as a whole, may not be used. This is true even when the offense is unintentional.

12. The College of Arms deals with each member’s mundane identity, and not his/her persona. All honors earned by or granted to a member belong to the member and not to the persona. The College of Arms requires a single Society name for each member, under which all honors will be listed in the Order of Precedence and under which all submissions will be filed.

13. If a submitted name is not acceptable but an accompanying device or badge is acceptable, a holding name may be devised by the College so that the device or badge may be registered. Later, when the non-acceptable name has been proven or changed by the submitter, he/she may file for a name change and the holding name will be dropped.

14. Once a submitter’s name has been registered, it may not be unregistered, even should problems later be found with the name. Permission to use any problematic elements of the name in later submissions, by the submitter or his immediate relatives, may be granted on a case-by-case basis.
 
 

For unusual or uncommon names, documentation will be required. "Documentation" is defined as: two photocopies of the page of the reference cited, along with two photocopies of the book’s title page. The specific passages should be in some way highlighted. For invented names, the same documentation is required showing similarity in the formation of names within period and place. Your persona story is not documentation. 

Libraries are an invaluable tool in this research. "Name Your Baby" books should be avoided because their accuracy is rarely acceptable and their entries usually undated. Look for books that give dated examples of the names in question. See your local heralds for further information and assistance. They will be happy to help you. (They’d rather pass your name the first time, than to be in a position of saying either "I told you so" or "I wish you’d come to me first.")

This document compiled for you by the Office of the Crescent Herald of Caid, for the Office of the Kingdom Chatelaine.

Text by Ceridwen A.S. XXIII

Revised by Master Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme, March 1998