RfS Part VI, Presumptous Names

#6PART VI - PRESUMPTUOUS NAMES Names may not claim status or powers the submitter does not possess, as is required by General Principle 3b of these rules. This section defines categories of presumptuous claims. > #6.11. Names Claiming Rank. – Names containing titles, territorial claims, or allusions to rank are considered presumptuous. > Titles like Earl// and //Duke// generally may not be used as Society names, even if the title is the submitters legal name. Names documented to have been used in period may be used, even if they were derived from titles, provided there is no suggestion of territorial claim or explicit assertion of rank. For example, //Regina the Laundress// is acceptable but //Regina of Germany// is not. Claim to membership in a uniquely royal family is also considered presumptuous, although use of some dynastic surnames do not necessarily claim royal rank. For example, there was a Scottish dynasty named //Stewart// , but there were also many other Stewart families so use of that surname does not link one unmistakably to the royal house. //Hohenstaufen// , on the other hand, seems to have only been used by the line of Holy Roman Emperors, so its use makes a clear dynastic claim. In some cases, use of an otherwise inoffensive occupational surname in a territorial context may make it appear to be a title or rank, such as //John the Bard of Armagh// or //Peter Abbot of St. Giles . > #6.22. Names Claiming Powers. – Names containing elements that allude to powers that the submitter does not possess are considered presumptuous. > Society names may not claim divine descent, superhuman abilities, or other powers that the submitter does not actually possess. Such claims include divine patronymics, like Vulcanson// ; epithets peculiarly associated with divinities or superhuman beings, such as //of the Valkyrie// ; given names that were never used by humans, like the names of some Giants or Dwarves in Norse mythology; or descriptive epithets like //Worldblaster . > #6.33. Names Claiming Specific Relationships. - Names that unmistakably imply identity with or close relationship to a protected person or literary character will generally not be registered. > Explicit claims to descend from a particular person, such as Edwin fitzWilliam Marshall// or //Rhys ap Cariadoc of the Bow// will not be registered. (The latter could be registered with a letter of permission from Cariadoc of the Bow. ) However, since there are many people named //William// and //Cariadoc// , //Edwin fitzWilliam// or //Rhys ap Cariadoc// would not conflict by themselves. In some cases a unique name, surname, or epithet is so closely related to an individual that its use alone can imply relationship to that individual. There is only one family that uses the name //Baggins of Bag End// , so //Joan Baggins of Bag End would not be appropriate. > #6.44. Other Presumptuous Names. - Some names not otherwise forbidden by these rules are nevertheless too evocative of widely known and revered protected items to be registered. > Such items include the peerage orders of the Society and such well-known items outside the Society as the Order of the Garter// . The //House of the Rose and Laurel// does not conflict with the //Order of the Rose// or the //Order of the Laurel// , but it is too evocative of both to be registered. Similarly, the //Award of the Blue Garter// is too evocative of the //Order of the Garter , whose badge is a blue garter.