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[Alternate name returned for lack of primary name] I don't believe holding names can be formed for anything but armory. (Sophia Sans Peur (Sophia Fearadaigh), August, 1992, pg. 29)
Lord Rocket has asked whether we've changed our policy on the formation of holding names. I wasn't aware that I'd made any changes --- if anything, I've tried to follow the policy as I'd learned it, as outlined in the LoAR of 19 Jan 86. Unfortunately, nowhere in the current Rules do we explicitly state how holding names are to be formed; precedent and "tradition" must therefore be our guides.
When he first took over the Laurel office, Master Da'ud began a series for Tournaments Illuminated; his first column (Winter 90, p.8) discussed holding names. In re-reading that column, I note at least one statement with which I seriously disagree: the statement that a holding name "is NOT your `registered' name, nor are you `stuck' with it." Au contraire: the holding name is indeed a submitter's registered name, until such time as a corrected name is resubmitted. It's in the A&O, it's on the file folder in Laurel's files, we check it for conflict and protect it afterward --- that fits the definition of "registered" in Laurel's eyes. The holding name is to be used in court, on scrolls, on the tourney field, and for all official functions --- until the submitter changes it. We encourage the submitter to change it: by definition, a holding name is used when we would otherwise have to return the armory submission for lack of a name, and we charge no fee for changing a holding name.
That being the case, the holding name should serve "to emphasize the fact that this was a temporary measure, not an unauthorized modification. (Timothy of Carraig Ban ...is more obviously a temporary substitute than [the submitted name with the objectionable phrase omitted].) The idea is to encourage the submitter to correct the problem himself." [LoAR of Jan 86, p.7]
Depending on the case, I will usually form a holding name by combining the submitter's mundane given name with the name of his/her SCA branch. Exceptions may be made when the submitter has specified the holding name he/she would like to receive, or when the use of the mundane given name would sound modern to the ear. In the end, it shouldn't matter exactly how the holding name was formed; submitters with holding names should still be encouraged to resubmit their names, with the problems corrected. (10 June, 1993 Cover Letter (May, 1993 LoAR), pg. 3)
The name Jay MacPhunn was returned on the LoAR of June 93. Normally, we'd register the device submission under a holding name. However, we could not legitimately form a holding name in this case. We usually form holding names from the submitter's mundane given name and his local SCA group; in special cases, we might borrow from the submitted name as well. But the original name was returned because Jay, the submitter's mundane given name, is intrusively modern [See under NAMES -- Legal]. A holding name formed in the usual manner would have the same problem; indeed, all the alternate names suggested by the submitter had that problem. We could not form a holding name in this case --- and therefore cannot register the device.
Some of my staff thought it unfortunate that this device be returned on a technicality regarding the name, and urged me to form a holding name out of whole cloth: Jason of Havbjorn, for instance. I considered it, but decided not to set such a dangerous precedent. The College of Arms already has a reputation for arbitrarily changing people's names. I see no need to fuel that reputation by selecting a name for this client from thin air; that would be truly arbitrary. At least, when correcting people's grammar, we try to give them a name with their desired meaning; when forming a holding name, we either use elements from the submitted name (which we can therefore assume are acceptable to the client) or else the mundane name and SCA branch, following a procedure carefully defined beforehand. Choosing a name on a whim for this submitter would follow neither his preference nor our procedure; it would usurp his privilege to choose his own Society name. Even with the best of intentions --- to register his device --- I'm not willing to take that step. (Jay MacPhunn, July, 1993, pg. 17)
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