SENA, Non-Personal Names Part 3, Conflict

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NPN.3. Non-Personal Names Conflict

http://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#NPN3

A. Definitions:

To be registered, a new submission must be clear of conflict with all registered names. Conflict, as it is used in these rules, is a modern concept which derives from the requirement in the Governing Documents that names have sufficient difference to avoid undue confusion. There are two kinds of confusion which must be avoided: being too close to a protected non-personal name directly, and indicating ownership by or affiliation with any protected name, including personal names. These are described in these rules as "identity conflict" and "affiliation conflict".

For identity conflict, names that are substantially different in both sound and appearance are said to be clear of conflict. Names that are not substantially different in sound and/or appearance are said to be in conflict. For affiliation conflict, a name that makes an unmistakable claim of ownership by or affiliation to a protected name is in conflict with it. This section of the rules sets the standards for how names can be substantially different and avoid such an unmistakable claim.

B. Items Protected from Conflict:

A new non-personal name submission must be clear from identity and affiliation conflict with all registered non-personal names of any type. Non-personal names do not have identity conflict with personal names, but may have affiliation conflict with personal names. A name is registered and protected from the moment it is listed as accepted on a published Letter of Acceptances and Returns. Registered names will be listed in the Ordinary and Armorial as soon as possible, but they are protected as soon as the Letter of Acceptances and Return is published.

C. Standards for Identity Conflict:

To be clear of conflict, the substantive elements of two names must be substantially different in sound and appearance. Matters such as meaning, language, etymological origin, etc., are completely irrelevant, as conflict is a modern concept. Designators and the prepositions or articles which link them to the substantive elements do not count for difference (though they can be sufficient to allow registration with permission to conflict). Only sound and appearance of the substantive elements are considered for difference. Thus, the Latinized form of a name may be clear of conflict from the vernacular form. While we do not go out of our way to consider variant pronunciations, we do consider important period and modern pronunciations of name elements. For a pair of non-personal names to be substantially different, the substantive elements of two non-personal names must be different in sound and appearance under the standards laid out below. Substantive elements may be different in sound under one standard and appearance under another standard. Substantive elements are compared as complete items, even if the elements have different capitalization or spacing. For example, in House of Lancastre//, //Lancastre// is the substantive element; in //Grimwithshire//, //Grimwith// is the substantive element. In the case of //House of the// //Black Bear//, //Black Bear// is the substantive element. Additionally, the //Shire of South Hamton// conflicts with the //Shire of Southam Ton// and //Shire of Southamton//, because the substantive elements are the same, just with different spacing and capitalization. The //Order of the Whistle// does not conflict with the //Order of the Whistle of Drachenwald//, because the substantive elements being compared are //Whistle// and //Whistle of Drachenwald.

1. Changes to Two Syllables:

Names are substantially different if changes in sound and appearance to the substantive element affect at least two syllables (including adding, removing, or reordering them). If the changes only affect adjacent letters or sounds, they must affect more than two letters or sounds, in general. Change in spacing between elements counts as a change in appearance, but is not considered a change in sound.

> For example, College of Saint Barbary// is substantially different from //College// //of// //Santa Barbara// because two syllables change in both sound and appearance, and another is added. //Barony of// //Denituna// is substantially different from //Barony of Denton, because one syllable has changed and two have been added. While the names are etymologically linked (with the first an earlier Latinized version of the second name), multiple syllables have difference in sound and appearance.

> For example, Sign of the White Eagle// is not substantially different from //Sign of the Whyt Egle//; while they are substantially different in appearance, they are not substantially different in sound. //Hamdon House// is not substantially different from //Hampton House//; the changes affect two syllables, but only two adjacent letters and their sounds (the //md// and //mpt group in the middle of the first word).

> For example, Order of the Wolf and Falcon// is substantially different from //Order of the Falcon and Wolf// and //Blanche Rose Pursuivant// is substantially different from //Rose Blanche Pursuivant//. In both cases, the substantive element has been reordered. Reordering of the substantive element and the designator does not clear conflict, so //House of Lancaster// is not substantially different from //Lancaster House.

2. - New Rule Substantial Change to the Sound of One Syllable:

as of December 2020 Cover Letter

Names are substantially different in sound if a single syllable in their substantive element (excluding articles, prepositions, and conjunctions, such as de, the, or and) is changed in sound as described here. The addition or removal of a syllable makes two names substantially different in sound. Two names are also substantially different in sound if the sound of a syllable is substantially changed in one of the following ways. If a vowel and the consonant or part of the group of consonants on one side of this vowel are different between the two names, we consider a syllable to be substantially changed. When the sounds of each consonant or part of each group of consonants on both sides of a vowel are different, we also consider the syllable to be substantially changed.

For example, the Shire of Charford is substantially different from Shire of Northcharford, as a syllable is removed. Similarly, House of Charring is substantially different from House of Charring Cross, as a syllable is removed.

For example, here are some names that are substantially different in sound due to appropriate changes to the sound of a single syllable. Canton of Caldbek is substantially different in sound from Canton of Caldwell, because the consonants on each side of the vowel in the second syllable of the substantive elements are different. The branch name Canton of Caldbek is also significantly different in sound from Barony of Birkbek; in this case, the consonants on each side of the vowel and the vowel in the first syllable of the substantive element are different. Northwood House is substantially different in sound from Southwood House: comparing the syllables North- and South-, we see that the first consonant group is completely changed, as is the sound of the vowel. Margerie Clutters Tavern is substantially different in sound from Margery Catters Tavern because in the first syllable of the second word in the substantive element, the first group of consonants has changed from cl to c and the vowels are different.

For example, here are some names that are not substantially different in sound. Caldwell Herald is not substantially different in sound from Coldwell Herald; the change only affects the vowel sound of the first syllable. The Green Band is not substantially different in sound from Green House, because no change has been made to the substantive element Green (excluding the). Similarly, Award of the White Cat is not substantially different in sound from Order of the Wyte Cat, because the substantive elements White Cat and Wyte Cat sound identical.

3. Substantial Change of Single-Syllable Name Element:

Two names whose substantive elements are two words or less and have a comparable single-syllable name element (excluding articles and prepositions, like de// and //the//) are eligible for this rule. Comparable single-syllable name elements are substantially different in sound if a group of adjacent vowels or of adjacent consonants within a word is completely changed, so that they have no sound in common. In rare cases, the sound may still be too similar for this rule to clear the conflict. The change of a single letter is sufficient for two eligible name phrases to be different in appearance, as such name phrases are quite short. On a case by case basis, two-syllable names phrases may be eligible for this rule, such as //Harry// and //Mary. > For example, House of the White Cat// is substantially different from //House of the White Hat//; each has a single syllable word in the substantive element with an initial consonant cluster that is different in both sound and a single letter difference in appearance. //Bill House// is substantially different from //Birch House;// each has a single syllable word with a final consonant cluster that is different in sound and appearance. //Roune House// is not substantially different from //Broun House// because the //r// and //Br groups share a sound; they are substantially different in appearance. > For example, College// //of Saint John// is substantially different from //College of Saint Jane//, because each has a single syllable word in the substantive element that is substantially different in sound and appearance. However, //College of Saint John of Essex// is not substantially different from //College of Saint Jane of Essex because they both have substantive elements longer than two words and cannot use this rule. > > See Precedent below. >

D. Standards for Affiliation Conflict:

Non-personal names may not unmistakably imply ownership by or affiliation with any name we protect. An unmistakable implication generally requires the use of multiple elements/phrases from a protected name. A non-personal name that uses two or more elements from a protected name may be presumptuous, if it can be understood to be a claim to be a relative of that person. In cases where the protected name has only a single element, the use of that element may be considered presumptuous on a case-by-case basis.

For example, House of Cariadoc of the Bow// unmistakably implies that the owner is //Cariadoc of the Bow//, and thus cannot be registered, but //Cariadocs House// does not unmistakably imply that claim. //Order of Bela of Eastmarch// unmistakably implies affiliation with //Bela of Eastmarch//, but //Order of Bela// does not unmistakably imply that claim//.// For example, //Company of the Blue Shield of Caid// as a household name submission from an individual unmistakably implies ownership by the //Kingdom// //of Caid//, while //Company of the Blue Shield does not. A person may make a claim of ownership by or affiliation with a protected person or entity with their permission.

There are period examples of using personal names in a way that does not make such a claim. For example, saint's names were used to create the names of places, orders, colleges, and religious confraternities. While they were dedicated to these saints, they did not make a confusing claim of the sort prohibited here. Thus, such names are registerable. Other names that use the name of a protected individual or entity can be registered only if they can be shown to follow a period pattern of naming that does not make a claim to be owned by a protected person or claim a confusing relationship with a protected person. For example, Ordre de Monsieur Saint Michel Archange//, is an order name which makes reference to Saint Michel but does not make a confusing claim. Similarly, both //Saint Marie Magdalene College//, and the //Cofradia de San Juan Bautista// are dedicated to these saints, but cannot be mistaken to be owned by them. The //Order of Saint William the Cooper// is registerable, even though this is a constructed saint's name, as long as there is no registered //William the Cooper.

E. Registration with Permission to Conflict:

The owner of an item may grant permission to conflict to a new submission for either identity conflict or affiliation conflict. Such permission may be granted either individually through a letter of permission to conflict or universally through a blanket letter of permission to conflict. A submission identical to the registered item will not be registered even with permission to conflict.

Any change to the sound and appearance of the substantive element is sufficient to allow the registration of a non-personal name with a letter of permission to conflict. Any change to the sound and appearance of the designator is sufficient to allow the registration of a non-personal name with a letter of permission to conflict, except when both items are branches, orders or awards, or heraldic titles or when one item is an order or award and the other is a heraldic title. This is because designators for branches and heraldic titles may change over time, we consider the designators for orders, awards, and honors to be equivalent, and we allow branches to register heraldic titles formed from their registered order and award names. However, household and affiliation designators do not change over time and are considered an integral part of the name.

Is a designator change, with letter of permission, sufficient?	Branches	Orders and Awards	Households and Affiliations	Heraldic Titles
Branches	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Orders and Awards	Yes	No	Yes	No
Households and Affiliations	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Heraldic Titles	Yes	No	Yes	No

Precedents:

Precedents of the SCA College of Arms - http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/precedents.html
Morsulus Herald's Website - http://www.morsulus.org/ (to search the LoARs and Precedents)

January 2013 Cover Letter - Adjacent Letters or Sounds and Conflict under SENA

SENA PN3C1, which describes how changes to two syllables make two names clear of conflict says "If the changes only affect adjacent letters or sounds, they must affect more than two letters or sounds to be considered under this allowance." This appears to have created a great deal of confusion among commenters comparing the submission Marie de Blois to the registered Marie du Bois.

The confusion resides in how we consider consonant clusters at the beginning (or end) of a syllable. Some commenters implicitly or explicitly argued that the "sound" at the start of the word Blois was "adjacent" to the change in the previous syllable and thus the names were not different under PN3C1. This is not a reasonable reading of the rule given how sounds work.

In French (and indeed in most other languages), one may have multiple letters representing a single sound like ch. This is often called a digraph. Some English digraphs include th, sh, and ng; vowel pairs like ow, au, and ay can also be considered digraphs (a lot of these are actually diphthongs, but are understood by listeners as a single sound). These digraphs are treated as single sounds under SENA and are adjacent to the sounds before and after them.

Alternately, one may also have multiple letters representing a group of sounds that are pronounced sequentially in a cluster, like \bw\ and \blw\ in this case (written as Boi and Bloi respectively). Some English consonant clusters are gl, tr, spl, and str. These consonant clusters consist of multiple sounds. Under SENA, each sound is considered to be adjacent to at least one other sound within the consonant cluster. Thus, a change that affects the middle of a three-consonant cluster (like adding the l in French \blw\) affects a sound that is adjacent to the other sounds in the consonant cluster. It is not adjacent to a vowel sound that precedes or follows that consonant cluster.

In English, there are also vowel pairings that represent two different sounds, though most create two separate syllables: words like hiatus, naïve, and cooperate all have adjacent vowels that are two separate sounds. Thus, the sound represented by the a in hiatus is not adjacent to the sound represented by the h.

http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2013/01/13-01cl.html