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Question: What does my Family Crest mean!?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
If you got it online, believing that there were such things as "family name crests," then you got ripped off!.

A personal coat of arms is owned by a person, and is passed down through descendants, usually in the male line!. So, you need to know if you descend from someone who owned the coat of arms!.

Online stores, called "bucket shops," find one coat of arms owned by someone named Dodd, and repackage it as a "Dodd surname crest!." If you read the fine print you might find a disclaimer, but most people spend money on arms that are not theirs!.

If your ancestors did not have a coat of arms, then you can adopt a new design!. Adopting your own, original coat of arms is better than buying a "family crest!." Assuming arms is a a time-honored tradition in most European countries!. Only in the British Isles do you need government permission, but granted Brits' arms are no more or less legitimate than arms assumed by people in Norway, Germany, etc!. Its just a different system and we should avoid Anglo-centrism!. In all countries, it is a taboo to steal another's arms (even if it is not illegal)!.

If you want a coat of arms, then you should investigate the options available in your country!. The American Heraldry Society is a good place to start, even if you live in another country!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I'm sorry to tell you, but if you got this from a company like the House of Names, it doesn't mean anything!. A family crest is a registered heraldic device usually passed from father to son!. Not all people with the same surname or even in the same family are "entitled" to the crest!. The photo you have is most likely an artist's rendering of a heraldry record describing the crest in Latin!.

But it's still interesting to know if you share the same surname with someone who is (or was in the past) entitled to bear a crest!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The first two are correct!. There is no such thing as a family crest!. A crest is part of a coat of arms!. Coats of arms do not belong to surnames and as a matter of fact they don't belong to families!.

The funny thing about it I was looking at House of Names and they show one entirely different for Dodd!.

In many cases, more than one man with the same surname, not all necessarily related, were each granted their own coat of arms, all different!.
No one peddler or bucket shop that sells them on the internet, at shopping malls, in airports, in magazines or solicit by mail will have all of them!.
They don't need to in order to sell to the gullible!.
The only time they will have more than one is if more than one man with the same surname from different national origins were granted a coat of arms!. Then they will have one of each and there might have been others!. Most men with that partifcular surname were never granted or assumed a coat of arms and their descendants are not entitled to one!.

What is so bad about these merchants of deceit selling coats of arms is that usually a family history comes with them!. The family history will not be the same for everyone with that particular surname!.

Here is a link to the British College of Arms!. They grant coat of arms and another to the most prestigious genealogical organizagtion in the U!.S!.,The National Genealogical Society!.

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

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

If you are an American you can design and make your own!. However, since we don't have a heraldry authority to register your arms, anybody can use it and claim it as theirs!. However, that is no different than a person buying one from a bucket shop and displaying it as if it belonged to them!.Www@QuestionHome@Com