Family Crest???

Question:

Family Crest???

I'm trying to find my family crest (last name walker). but on the internet i've found about 5 different family crests for the name walker. how do i know which one is right, or does it matter???

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: See the links below

http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comconsumerp...

http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/faq.ht...

Family Crest is a misnomer for coat of arms. Coat of arms are passed fathers to their sons. They don't belong to surnames.

A large portion of the Anglo Saxon people of the American South usually have more than one in their family trees. That does not mean they are entitlted to them.

Some people in the South have the ones their ancestor brought over from England 300-400 years ago. They don't display them. They can't buy groceries with them.

Don't trust these companies peddling these "walnut plaques" as one of the regular posters on this board calls them. They are scams. They sell them on a surname. Actually coats of arms do not have surnames on them.

If there is a coat of arms in your family tree, you must do the research on your family and find it. This might take a few years.

If you are a student and your teacher has told the class to find their "family crest" please educate her. There is no such thing.

I will get "thumbs down" for my use of the word peddler to describe people like House of Names but that is what they are. I have just checked the Walker family crest against another Walker crest on a different site and they are identical.
http://www.houseofnames.com/fc.asp?sid=&...
Hope this helps. None of them may be the correct one, just because you find a Walker crest it might be for one individual and not for a entire family, There is no such thing as a "family crest." The crest is the top part of a coat of arms. There is no such thing as a family coat of arms. Coats of arms are issued to individuals, and also to institutions, but not to families. Much of what you find online relating to coats of arms is just a bunch of BS. If you found five different coats of ams then it is possible that they are the coats of arms of five different persons named Walker who were granted arms. It is possible that these five Walkers were not even related.

If you want a coat of arms design your own. There is no such thing as a family coat of arms. Yes, it matters.

Since C of A's are passed down on the male side, you would need to know if a male with the Walker surname had heraldry. And, then you would need to know if you are related to that part of the Walker line. That still doesn't mean that you are eligible to display or claim the C of A--unless you can prove your are eligible through lineage and diligent family research.

Unethical people who advertise "Family Crests" further this thought of entitlement only as a money making scheme.