English noble family category additions.

Question

Hello all,

I've recently been taking a look at the English Nobility category, and I was curious about whether others had any English noble families that they thought deserved a category (or do, and it simply isn't categorised here!). I know that there is a category on Wikipedia for UK noble families, and also a list of noble houses available on Wikipedia as well, but I'm not as well-versed on this as I probably should be, and so I wanted to put the question out there for other opinions.

Comments

I personally don't like the "House of" style which often gets used on the internet: I do not think it is an accurate term for English noble and gentry families; but is rather a sort of romantic/snobby thing?

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I personally don't mind the usage, and Wikipedia also makes use of it. At least in regards to the "House of" format, it is used across all of the European noble houses so that it remains consistent. However, I am curious about which term you believe would be more accurate?

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Yes I also don't like it on Wikipedia. I think a good word for a family is "family" and if it is a dynasty, then "dynasty" seems reasonable? "House" is used in story-telling English, and to describe certain types of families that are mainly not typical English noble or gentry families. If you have counter examples I would be genuinely interested.

Answer 1

"House" is pretty standard in Europe, and considering that most of the early families came from France they would have not thought it strange at all. Certainly a few centuries later as nobility developed they would likely have considered "noble families" to be appropriate.

I guess it depends upon the time frame we are talking about, which means that there is no easy one fits all fit. In my opinion I think that an arbitrary decision is called for.

Comments

Thank you for your thoughts! However, my question is not to do with the terminology of the categories, and it is instead about which other English noble families should have categories for their members.

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As I said elsewhere, I think creating categories before there is any obvious content is a thankless and pointless task. Leave it to people who want the categories to create them.

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I was not thinking of simply creating empty categories; perhaps I have worded my question incorrectly. I mean for families who already have at least a few profiles on WikiTree, such as the Spencers or the Mortimers.