User blog comment:Nick D Wolfwood/Hell, where naughty Death Gods go????/@comment-1933909-20100601185220

Ah, that reminds me: How can there be extensive Shinigami families (i.e. the Noble Houses) when all the inhabitants have died to get into Soul Society?? I mean, are SOME Shinigami born in Soul Society while the others get in by dying? Are the members of the Noble Houses "adopted" once they enter Soul Society? Or is this simply a miscalculation of Tite Kubo's?

That has confused me for quite a while now...