Family Coat of Arms

[Inspir]

I found this neat little website on the net last night and thought I would share it with you. You pretty much enter your surname into the search field and it comes up with a brief history of the name and its lineage as well as the family crest.

www.houseofnames.com

Sometimes even a family motto. Mine: "Virtue is a tower of strength to me"

My next tattoo maybe 

 

[Michael OLeary]

Just because that coat of arms has been registered to that surname, doesn't guarantee that your particular family (or branch) has a right to use it, or that it has any relevance to you at all.  These sites/vendors allow you to believe that everyone with a single surname constitute an extended family, all extended from the one generation that created the crest that is in their database.  But it's a false premise, they just seek profit based on the public's lack of awareness. 

 

[241]

Just checked for both my parents last names, dads came up with the right one but my moms didn't...I think there are different ones for different branchs of families, with the same spelling, ie:  McLeod, can also be spelled MacLeod

 

[Donut]

+1 Mr. O'Leary.

Coats of Arms, or Armorial Bearings, are granted to an individual or a corporate entity, not a family.

For further readings, check out http://www.gg.ca/heraldry/index_e.asp  which outlines the procedure to follow to get your very own Letters Patent and a bona fide Armorial Bearing.

Frequently, what you'll get, and the website you linked to even states, is the earliest Coat of Arms associated with a bearer of that suname.

There's lots of misinformation on the subject out there, I was fortunate to have a teacher who was one of the few Heraldic Scholars in Canada at the time the Letters Patent were presented to the Governor General of Canada, authorizing the holder of that office to authorize the issueing of Armorial Bearings for Canada.

DF

 

[Baldricks-Bullet]

Little bit tacky of the house of names to pop a square .gif in the middle of a generic sheild and helmet.

See.. my helmet should have a cresent and corn growing out of it... which is quite ironic really... cos when I was on Ops my helmet sometimes had corn growing out of it... I even put half a christmas tree in it once to blend in with the local elves.

 

[Roy Harding]

Just checked for both my parents last names, dads came up with the right one but my moms didn't...I think there are different ones for different branchs of families, with the same spelling, ie:  McLeod, can also be spelled MacLeod

One branch would be Scots, and the other Irish.  "Mics" and "Macs" are important distinctions in some parts of the world.

 

[PMedMoe]

I'm not too keen on the crests, although it's a good way to find out some family name info.  We bought this plaque for my Dad years ago, with the Clan crest, motto and plaid.  It's made from an oak tree that grew in Scotland.

The motto means:  Courage grows strong at a wound.
Dad used to say the image (a bird feeding many young) was appropriate with six kids in the family!!