Be suspicious of any website where the purpose is to sell you a copy, shield, scroll, etc of "your coat of arms". or where the website is sponsored by a company selling such items.
I studied Heraldry in England many years ago, because the subject fascinated me.
I have always been passionately interested in History......Irish, British, European, the World, in that order.
Soon after I moved to FL, I went to work for the House of Ireland, and was the manager of their "Historic Families" Store. We made scrolls with a name history and/or a coat of arms on it. I used to explain that it was a very general history of the last name, and not their particular family, but the buyers didn't seem to care.
I discovered there are a lot of misconceptions about coats of arms.
First of all, many people call it a "crest" which is wrong.
A crest is only the upper portion above the coat of arms, which in ancient times was worn on the helmet, the coat of arms was worn on the cloak or shield, or both.
The biggest misconception is that ALL people of a certain surname are entitled to the same coat of arms.
The simplest way to explain it is, when an American soldier is wounded in combat he is awarded a purple heart. That does not mean his cousin is entitled to one also.
A coat of arms is awarded to an individual, not to everybody of that same last name.
Descendants of that individual can apply for their own arms, with some alteration.
For example,when Sara Ferguson married Prince Andrew her Scottish ancestor's coat of arms was combined with Andrew'sl coat of arms, and a bee was added, which was her own symbol.
The art of Heraldry is taken very seriously in England.
You cannot just decide you will use a coat of arms in public, that would be like impersonating a Veteran when you have never seen combat.
The main reason for using a coat of arms was recognition, which was important on a battlefield, to determine who was on your side and avoid "friendly fire" incidents.
Heraldry has it's own language, for example the colour red is "gules", green is "vert".
Every device on a coat of arms has a meaning.
The College of Arms is the body which keeps records of all Arms awarded in England.
In Scotland, the authority is "The Court of the Lord Lyon".
In Ireland, the source of information regarding Heraldry:
www.nli.ie/h_auth.htmAnother misconception.....the term "clan" is not valid in any country other than Scotland.
Yes I know it is used by reunion sites about Irish families, but it's not correct.
In Ireland, a more accurate term would be "sept".
My family belong to the O'Maoilriain sept in Northern Tipperary, which was easy to prove because they stayed put for centuries.
One of my ancestors was awarded a coat of arms with a background of gules (red) with three griffins' heads. This means that he was a warrior to the death.
His motto in Latin was: "Malo mori quam foedari" which means "I would rather die than be dishonoured".
