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Households, as they are generally known in the Society, don't appear to have historical equivalents; they seem to be unique to the SCA. My best definition would be: "A household is a non-official group of people who like to do things together in a Society context, to the point where they can be treated as a single unit." That definition covers groups of friends, small families, professional guilds (entertainment, brewing, waterbearers, &c), fighting units, and even businesses.
While there were no exact parallels in period to SCA households, there were historical groups that shared one or more functions with the latter. These include the Scots clans (Clan Stewart); ruling dynasties (House of Anjou); professional guilds (Baker's Guild of Augsburg, Worshipful Company of Coopers); military units, including mercenaries (The White Company); and inns (House of the White Hart). Such names as these groups took, then, should be the pattern on which SCA household names are built.
Some house names were taken from the place of origin: House of York, House of Lorraine, House of Valois. Some were taken from a personal epithet of the founder, shared by neither his father nor siblings: House Capet. Some were taken from the founders' surnames -- which, in turn, might be derived originally from a patronymic (Clan MacGregor), a toponymic (Clan Kerr), or an occupation (Clan Stewart). Guild names were straightforward descriptions of their crafts. Mercenary units might be more fanciful, and inn names most fanciful of all; but these still referred to livery or signboards -- in short, to a badge, which was a tangible thing.
House names in period don't seem to have been overly fantastic. For the most part, they come from the same linguistic well as period bynames. In particular, since a period house name was so often simply the surname, byname, or epithet of its founder, any such epithet that is acceptable in a Society personal name should be acceptable as a Society household name. This is the rule of thumb I've formulated for determining the acceptability of household names henceforth. If we would register John X, we should register House X as well. We would not permit John Starwalker, so we should not permit House Starwalker. We would register John of the Red Sickles (wincing, perhaps, but we would), so we should register House of the Red Sickles. (2 July, 1992 Cover Letter (June, 1992 LoAR), pg. 3)
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[House Shadowglade] The household name does not appear to follow period exemplars. For one thing, it's nonsense: by definition, a glade is a sunny area. For another thing, we've no period documentation of shadow- used as a theme in English placenames. While I might have stretched that point for an otherwise-acceptable construction, I can't see period houses using such an oxymoron as this. (Tristan Blackmoor of Darkwoods, August, 1992, pg. 23)
[Egil's Nest] This conflicts with Eagle's Nest, a place among the Killarney Lakes in County Kerry, Ireland. It is cited in a general reference ( The New Century Cyclopedia of Names, vol.I, p.1379), so it's important enough to protect. (Egill von Stahl, August, 1992, pg. 27)
[House Catmask] Catmask doesn't seem to be a period term; the closest phrase in the OED, cat-face, dates to the 19th Century. Even as a constructed noun, it doesn't seem a plausible house name; it might conceivably be an inn name, but only if it were a period noun. (House Catmask (Iarngard Ragnarson), August, 1992, pg. 32)
[Seeker's Keep] Keep is the household designator here. (Seeker's Keep (Aelfric se Droflic), September, 1992, pg. 1)
[Tempest Tower] If Tower is considered the household designator (and therefore transparent with respect to conflict), this conflicts with the Order of the Tempest ...Were we to add a designator (e.g. House Tempest Tower), so that Tower became the substantive element of the name, this would conflict with the Order of the Towers of Dreiburgen ...The designator is transparent; the addition of the branch name is worth no difference, per the ruling on the Golden Swan of Calontir; the only countable difference, under the current Rules, is the addition of the adjective Tempest --- which is insufficient, per Rule V.2. (David van den Storm, September, 1992, pg. 38)
[Iron Horde of Cathanar] As in the case of the Company of the Checquered Shield of Western Seas (LoAR of 19 Jan 91), the use of the SCA branch name implies this is an official group of the Barony of Cathanar. As the submitter doesn't represent Cathanar, he may not style his household in a way that suggests official sanction. (If he has official sanction from Cathanar, the name should be registered to Cathanar.)
Normally, we'd delete the problematic part of the name, and register this as simply the Iron Horde, but that would then introduce conflicts. Specifically, it would conflict with the Iron Guard, a Rumanian fascist organization founded in 1924. Paramilitary and strongly anti-Semite, it played a major role in Rumanian history prior to and during World War II (including the assassination of one Premier and the installation of another). Since it's cited in several general references ( The New Century Cyclopedia of Names, vol.II, p.2135; 1991 Encyclopedia Britannica, vol.7, p.388), the Iron Guard is important enough to protect. (And in any case, I doubt the submitter would like a household name so close to a group whose atrocities offended even the Nazi Gestapo.) (Mengü of Cathanar, September, 1992, pg. 46)
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The sennachie, or seanchaidhe, were more than simply historians; they studied and told the old tales and legends, and were the keepers of genealogy and tradition in Ireland and the Scottish highlands. The sennachie became a semi-hereditary class, similar to bards; and it's worth noting that the office of the High Sennachie was the precursor to the Lyon King of Arms. As such, seanchaidhe is a title and rank, not merely the Irish for "historian"; it may not be registered as a household name. (Seonaid of Nairn, September, 1992, pg. 46)
[House Castor Bellator] The household name is Latin for "warrior beaver". This doesn't follow our current guidelines for household names: we wouldn't register John the Warrior Beaver, so we shouldn't register this. It is barely possible that House of the Warrior Beaver might be a late-period English inn name --- but such a name wouldn't be in Latin. (Eadwyn Inhold., September, 1992, pg. 48)
[Maison des Animaux] The name is intrusively modern, strongly evoking the film Animal House (of which the name is an exact translation). Translation into another tongue can bring a name clear, per Rule V.4.b --- but only if the pronunciation is significantly altered. The difference between Animal and Animaux is too small to be considered significant; and the household designator (House, Maison) is transparent, and counts for no difference. As for the "fame" of the conflict, if a sizable fraction of the populace (of which the College of Arms may be considered a representative sample) recognizes Animal House as a movie title, it's probably necessary to protect it from conflict --- not so much for its own sake, as to keep the modern movie reference from intruding on our medieval re-creation. (Jacqueline de Lyons, September, 1992, pg. 49)
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The household name and badge were twice submitted on the LOI: once under [the submitter's] name, and once under the name of [another submitter]. Per our current policy on joint badge registration (LoAR cover letter of 3 Aug 92), one of these gentles must be designated the primary badge-holder. [Name and badge attached to other name and returned for unrelated reasons]. (Ursus Imminere (Jane Falada of Englewood), October, 1992, pg. 28)
RamSword does not appear to be a valid construction for a household name: the internal capitalization is implausible, and the word seems to have no meaning. By our rule of thumb on such names, if we wouldn't accept John RamSword (and we wouldn't!), we shouldn't accept House RamSword. (Alaric of Wyvernwood, October, 1992, pg. 31)
[Weasel Works] The household name doesn't seem to follow known period usage. The word works appears to be a late-period term referring to a factory; when modified with a noun, the noun is considered the product of the factory (e.g. iron works). A weasel works, then, would not be a factory owned by a man named Weasel, but a factory that made weasels. This appears highly implausible, even as a metaphor. We need some evidence of period compatibility before we can register this name. (Weasel Works (Morgaine Brisen), January, 1993, pg. 27)
[Domus Artium Utilium, meaning House of the Useful Arts] This isn't an unreasonable name for, e.g., a school; it follows the pattern of the Academia Secretorum Naturae, founded at Naples in 1560 (1911 E.Brit., vol.I, p.99). (Domus Artium Utilium (Una Wynifreed Berry), March, 1993, pg. 15)
[Household name Teulu Ffynnon Ddu] Lady Harpy has noted that the use of teulu ("family") with a toponymic household name does not fit Welsh name structure. However, teulu also means "warband" which makes the name more plausible. (Giovanni Fontananera, October, 1993, pg. 9)
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