SENA, Personal Names Part 5, Offense
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PN.5. Personal Names Offense http:heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#PN5 #PN5AA. Definitions: No name that is offensive to a large segment of members of the SCA or the general public will be registered. Offense is a modern concept; just because a name was used in period does not mean that it is not offensive to the modern observer. Offense returns are rare because the bar for determining offensiveness is quite high; it has not been unusual for years to pass between returns for offense. Offense is not dependent on intent. The fact that a submitter did not intend to be offensive is not relevant. The standard is whether a large segment of the SCA or the general public would be offended. Similarly, offense is not dependent on clarity. A foreign language name that has an offensive meaning may be considered offensive, even if many English-speaking listeners would not understand the term without explanation.
#PN5BB. Types of Potentially Offensive Names: Several types of names are defined as potentially offensive: > #PN5B11. Vulgar Names: Names which include pornographic or scatological terms will not be registered. While some documented bynames refer to body parts, those which refer in explicit ways to genitals will not be registered, such as certain Old Norse bynames. Bynames which refer to other body parts are not generally vulgar and may be registered. Likewise, names that have been used as euphemisms for genitals are not considered vulgar and may be registered. > Names that will be understood by the modern English listener to be offensively vulgar will be considered vulgar even if the meaning in the original language is not vulgar. Relatively small changes to name elements can remove the appearance of vulgarity. > #PN5B22. Offensive Religious Terminology: Names which include religious terms used in a way that mock the beliefs of others will not be registered. This includes both incongruous combinations and combinations that are excessively religious and may be offensive to believers and non-believers alike. Most religious terminology is not offensive. Names with non-offensive religious terminology may be registered. > For example, the incongruous combinations Muhammad the Pope// or //Mary the Harlot of Babylon would not be registerable. > #PN5B33. Derogatory Stereotypes: Names which include ethnic, racial, or sexuality-based slurs and references to derogatory stereotypes will not be registered. This is not dependent on the period associations of the usage. It is an issue based on modern understandings of the offensiveness of terms. General references to ethnic, racial, or sexual identities are not offensive and may be registered. > #PN5B44. Offensive Political Terminology: Names which include terms specifically associated with social or political movements that are offensive to a particular race, ethnicity, religion or similar group will not be registered. Likewise, names with references to events or ideas that are offensive to a similar group will not be registered. Even if used without prejudice in period, such terms are offensive by their modern context. > For example, name phrases that suggest participation in pogroms or repressive movements, such as Judenfeind, a period German name meaning "enemy of the Jews," will not be registered. #PN5CC. Names as a Whole: Even when no name phrase is itself offensive, an entire name may be offensive. A name that mocks a public person or another member of the Society by adding an element like "le Idiot" is not allowed. In general, such a reference must be unmistakable; this generally requires multiple elements from a protected name. Likewise, a name that creates an offensive idea through a combination of words is not allowed.