Interesting point. Although I'm not sure there is any
information on the lineage of any of the families.
There does exist a Tendou family and school of yari or
spear fighting. I'm not sure about any of the other
family names. However none of them appear in my list
of names of the nobility or samurai families. However,
considering the turbulent  nature of Japanese politics
and the complex marriage relationships;  the outright
lies, since everyone wants to claim descent from a
samurai family, and the occasional custom of buying a
samurai name ^_^ it's possible,IMO, that Ukyou could
claim descent from the imperial  family (southern OR
northern). 

Noble Families 


Gosetsuke (top five) 

Konoe Takashi Kujo Ichijo Gojo 


Aburakoji Anenokoji Asukai Daigo Hirohata Imaidegawa 
Inokuma Jimyoin Kajuji Kaoin Karasuma Kawashi 
Konjo Kuga Masachika Matsuki Minase Nakayama 
Nanba Nomiya Oimikado Rakujochigusa Reizei Saioji 
Sanjo Shigenoi Shijo Shimizudani Tokudaiji Washio 
Yamashina           



Bushi or samurai families 

Asai Askikaga Chosokabe Date Fukushima Genji 
Hachisuka Hattori Heike Hojo Honda Hosokawa 
Ishida Kaga Kato Kuki Kuroda Maeda 
Matsudaira Miyamoto Mori Murakami Oda Okamoto 
Okubo Ooka Saito Shibata Shimazu Suwa 
Takeda Takigawa Tanuma Tokugawa Ukita Watanabe 




--- Jack Staik <jstaik1043@earthlink.net> wrote:

As I understand the custom, the family name of the
married couple is the
family name of the person whose family has the
higher social caste. In
modern days, this is modified by what each couple
brings to the
marriage.

If Nodoka's family had the higher social caste, or
Nodoka had brought a
huge dowry to the marriage while Genma brought
little or nothing
(knowing Genma, most likely both), then it would be
possible that
Saotome is Nodoka's family.

Should Akane and Ranma marry, then in all liklihood
their family name
would be Tendo, because Akane would have the dojo as
a dowry while Ranma
would have nothing.

A Ranma/Ukyo pairing, in all liklihood, would be
Saotome because of the
huge 'classical' social difference (Samurai lineage
and cook), despite
the dowry.

--------------------
Jack Staik
Property of Jillian
--------------------

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