are you interested in knowing more about your family coat-of-arms join me today as I explain
the truth behind family coats of arms on today's ancestral findings comm podcasts
one of the first things a lot of beginner genealogists want to explore is their family
crest or coat of arms it is a mistaken belief among beginners that every family has one of
these somewhere in their ancient history and newcomers to the genealogical field naturally want
to celebrate their family by bringing their coat of arms back to life this is a wonderful ambition
and if your family truly does have a coat of arms or crest that you are entitled to use you should
learn about it and display it proudly however actually having a coat of arms or family crest
is much more rare than you might imagine having the hereditary right to use it is even more rare
while there are many companies out there that are willing to sell you all kinds of merchandise
with your supposed family crest on it the vast majority of these companies are not engaged in
legitimate genealogical research the coat of arms or crest you get may or may not belong to your
family and it might be made up completely by the company selling it to you or you may not have the
hereditary right to use it if you really want to know something about heraldry the art of studying
coats of arms and crests and how it applies to your family listen on it's a fascinating
tale historically speaking a coat of arms is a design on the shield of a medieval knight the
design was unique to an individual sometimes the individual only had rights to the coat of arms
during his lifetime other times he was allowed to pass it down to his descendants and it became the
family coat of arms as time went on some nations and even corporations adopted their own coats of
arms the symbols on a coat of arms are meant to represent the achievements of the person
state or corporation to whom or which the arms are granted the first documented use of coat of arms
in medieval times is on the Bayou tapestry which dates from the 11th century AD and chronicles the
Norman invasion of England some of the Knights on the tapestry are seen holding shields with
heraldic insignia on them usually painted crosses these were the earliest and most basic types of
coats of arms the use of coats of arms became pretty common by the 12th century and were used
by many knights and minor feudal lords who went into battle within another century families were
using coats of arms usually once granted to an ancestor a century before as the family
logo and sewed these arms onto flags that flew above their castles and manors only the highest
classes of people in medieval Europe used coats of arms as they were the only one with ancestors
distinguished enough to have been granted them by the kings of the time once a family started using
a coat of arms it was passed down through the generations from one to the other even down into
the present day an individual had to be granted a coat of arms by a ruling monarch to be able
to legally use it after that the laws or customs governing who had the right to use them varied by
country in most of Europe only the aristocracy could use them in the Germanic countries both
aristocrats and free citizens who weren't noble but who had distinguished accomplishments could be
granted them and used them in England and Scotland only the person who was originally granted the
coat of arms could use it as it was while coats of arms were made hereditary in England by King
Richard the first in the 13th century during the first Crusades each generation had to change the
coat of arms slightly to distinguish it from the generation prior women were also allowed
to bear their own coat of arms as long as it incorporated unique designs along with the main
family design so that the arms distinguish them as female bearers of the arms eventually churches
and towns were granted the right to use coats of arms to identify themselves universities and some
companies it had royal charters were also given coats of arms which became the prototypes of the
modern corporate logo throughout the centuries the use of coats of arms was governed mainly by
custom though a few places mainly England did have governmental regulations regarding their
use today the use of coats of arms is more closely regulated as many of them have been
trademarked the owners of the trademarks be they families or organizations are the ones who have
the legal right to say how their arms can be used England and Scotland have heraldic authorities
which grant and regulate the use of coats of arms sometimes these authorities grant new arms to new
individuals families or organisations even into the present day a coat of arms doesn't
necessarily have to be ancient to be legitimate in England and Scotland what is the difference
between a coat of arms and a family crest the family crest is part of the overall coat of arms
it is the three-dimensional object at the top of the arms the top of something is often referred
to as a crest such as the crest of a wave on the ocean or the crest of a mountain or building the
crest is an important identifier for what the person who originally received the arms did to
receive it and has often been used on its own as a smaller family logo over the centuries without
the full arms beneath it as centuries passed the original meaning of the crest was often forgotten
and it simply became an identifying symbol for a family of high rank or nobility most European
countries adopted the use of coats of arms over the centuries in the Middle Ages today nearly
anyone can claim the use of those arms except in cases where they are trademarked as most European
countries no longer regulate their use and some countries like Italy do not recognize them at all
leaving any ones free to adopt a coat of arms as their own in the United Kingdom however it
is different there are still laws there governing the use of coats of arms that must be followed by
anyone in any part of the world who wishes to use them the most important thing to remember about
coats of arms in the United Kingdom is that there is no such thing as a coat of arms that is granted
to a surname they are granted to individuals only to legally use the arms a person must
be the person to whom the arms were originally granted or a direct mail line descendant in a
legitimate line of descent no illegitimate lines are eligible for use of the arms of that person
the College of Arms in the United Kingdom can make new grants of arms even today to be granted a new
coat of arms for you or your family you must submit a formal request to the College of Arms
directly this applies to individuals corporations and private organizations Americans who can prove
a direct legitimate descent from a subject of the British crown during a period of British rule such
as Americans with ancestors in America when it was still a British colony pre-revolutionary
war kin petitioned the College of Arms for an honorary arms that will be granted to one person
that person then has the right to pass down the arms through the legitimate male line of their
family this rule of legitimate male-line descent is why some people with the same surname have the
legal right to use a coat of arms in the UK and others with the same surname do not a real coat
of arms is divided into several parts each part tells you something about the individual family
corporation or organization to which was granted the parts of a coat of arms are the motto this is
the motto of the person or entity who owns the arms it can be anything they want to say that
they feel represents them or their group or family the motto may or may not be placed on a design of
some sort and it is located at the very top of the arms the crest located directly under the
motto this is a three-dimensional symbol of some kind that identifies an achievement of the owner
of the arms the shield elements since arms were originally painted on shields the shield is now
a basic part of any coat of arms it is a miniature representation of what the original shield looked
like or would have looked like if the person or entity who was granted the arms ever went into
battle there may be several different designs on the shield and their placement and colors tell a
story about the origin of the arms supporters these are usually to animals or people that
stand on either side of the shield the animals our people used as supporters also tell part of the
story of the origin of the arms nothing stops you from designing your own coat of arms and family
crest just know that it is not a hereditary one and has no official or ancestral meaning you can
make one for yourself or your family and use it as a logo many companies online will help you design
your own it is the companies that sell you what they tell you is your official family coat of arms
based on your surname that are not to be trusted as you have seen only a certain few individuals
are legally entitled to use an ancient and hereditary coat of arms companies that sell you
merchandise with your supposed coat of arms on it are either using the coat of arms of a family with
your Singh surname and which you have no legal or hereditary right to use or they are making one up
for you and not telling you they use all of the right parts of a real coat of arms but the arms
they are making for you are new with no ancestral meaning to your family at all many companies have
made a lot of money with this deception over the past several decades as a renewed interest in
heraldry began after world war ii while there is nothing wrong with designing your own coat of arms
for your family it is unlikely you will discover you are entitled to use an ancient and established
one that has been handed down for centuries through the same family your family might
actually have a legitimate ancient coat of arms but your branch probably doesn't hold the right to
use it only in a very few exceptional cases where you find you belong to a line that does have the
right to use an ancient coat of arms if you do display them proudly because they are part of a
rich and lengthy heritage few can claim or prove heraldry is a real art there are organizations in
the United Kingdom and other European countries that can help you interpret the meaning on a
legitimate coat of arms if you discover one in your family even if you don't have the right to
use it it is still interesting to know the meaning behind the arms your ancestors used if you decide
to buy a coat of arms from an online company or offline company just know it will be a new coat
of arms and not something ancient and legitimate it doesn't mean you can't start using it as part
of a new family tradition though by all means start your own coat of arms now and pass it down
through your family just be sure you record where and how the arms were started and what the symbols
you chose to put in it mean so future generations will know how your family got its coat of arms you
what happened to the 1890 census it may be gone but that doesn't mean you
have to miss out on 20 years of your ancestors lives in the next ancestral
findings dot-com podcast I'll show you how to use alternate sources
you you