Thread: How about an SRP coat of arms?

Originally Posted by Kees

This is our family's coat af arms.
On the left a Friesian Eagle.

Attachment 258814

Nice one, Kees. It must be pretty ancient - marshalling by dimidation dates from the earlier days of Heraldry.

There are lots of common misconceptions, and some have popped up on the thread.

First, coats of arms are not reserved to the aristocracy. Aristocrats pretty much all used coats of arms, but plenty of commoners did.

Different countries have different traditions. Some countries like Japan and Hungary have clan arms.
Others, especially continental Europe, have family arms - where everybody who descend from the same ancestor can use the exact same coat of arms, and combine them when they descend from many ancestors who had coats of arms.

The British tradition is a little bit different, in that coat of arms are personal. That means that only one person will inherit your coat of arms, and your other kids will have variations on the original theme, and their kids will have variations on that theme, and so on. Which will make a very interesting family tree in a few generations.
For Scots, there is going to be also a link between the clan chief's arms and the personal arms, because of how important clans have been in that country.

(Obviously, corporate coat of arms also exist - that is why you have them for many universities, cities, companies, and so on. Those don't have rules of inheritance, because the corporate body never dies)

So, if you have an ancestor who had a coat of arms, you may use the same if that's from a tradition that allows it. Otherwise, you gotta go back to the herald to get your variation on the theme - that's something that many expatriate Scots still do to this day.

Many people will make the mistake of thinking that if you have the same last name, you have the same ancestor - and hence those 'bucket shops' use this misconception to sell people their 'family coat of arms' that actually belongs to another family.

But if you don't, or don't care that much about your ancestors 6+ generations ago, then you can get your own. If you live in a place where you can freely assume one (like the USA), you can just do it - no questions asked, and no government agencies to deal with. Its a good idea to get an expert to research to make sure you don't pick somebody else's, but that's not required.
If you life in a place where there is still a granting authority (UK, Canada, etc.), then you have to deal with them. And they're real experts, so the money you spend isn't gonna go down the drain, but it'll be pricier than asking your nephew who's good at drawing .

Finally, why that's important? Well, that's not super important in the 21st century. It used to be very important, in part because that's what you'd use as a seal on documents like contracts and wills (lots of people were uneducated back then). And society attached more importance to which family you belonged, so it was a visual depiction of whose family you belong to.
In the 21st century, things a different, it is a (very nice) personal logo that connects you to your ancestors and (hopefully) to your descendants. It is a way to tell who you are in a simple image.

Originally Posted by malaverdiere

Nice one, Kees. It must be pretty ancient - marshalling by dimidation dates from the earlier days of Heraldry.

It is fun to have a family coat of arms but is pretty useless these days. I does not make me an aristocrat by any stretch of the imagination. In the Netherlands the coats of arms of the aristocracy are protected by some sort of legislation and the Council of the Aristocracy but those of the lesser mortals like myself are not protected, many aren't even registered. My father used to wear a signet ring with our coat of arms, but being stingy as he was never felt the need to give me one. I never felt the urge to wear his after he passed away. I have given one to my eldest daughter for her 21st birthday. It is perfectly legal in this country to have one designed for you or design one yourself.

The picture I posted earlier is a copy of an older picture that my father's brother drew when he was young, before WW II. My grandmother used to have it on the chimneypiece.

Your right, then we might start seeing different levels of registration based on your pedigree.....