HUGHES only!?

Question:do you know where i can find my coat of arms or family crest for free? i cant find a good looking one anywhere they all have bad graphics. i want to get a tattoo of it. please help!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: do you know where i can find my coat of arms or family crest for free? i cant find a good looking one anywhere they all have bad graphics. i want to get a tattoo of it. please help!

Coats of arms do not belong to surnames.
There is no such thing as a family crest. A crest is part of a coat of arms.

As HSK's mama posted they were and are granted to individuals and they are passed down through the legitimate direct male line of descent.

There might have been 10 different individuals names Hughes that were each granted their own coat of arms. The peddlers that sell them will not have all 10, believe me. They don't need to in order to sell to gullible people

There are no laws in the U.S. regarding heraldry and merchants of deceit take advantage of Americans. In some countries a person would be risking prosecution for displaying a coat of arms without documented proof that it belonged to them.

See the links below, one from the British College of Arms and the other from the most prestigious genealogical organization in the U.S.,, The National Genealogical Society.

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

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

You do not have a family coat of arms unless your family is of Gaelic Irish origin.
The site I listed in sources below will, for a fee, tell you all you want to know.

A coat of arms is awarded to an individual, not to a particular surname and is passed to the oldest sons family. They are not awarded to an entire surname.There are plenty of coats of arms peddlers who will sell you a crest, and pass it off as heraldry, but they are not legitimate. The family shield or coat of arms is a noble idea for a tatoo if it were legitimate. I implore you to do your research before you do such a thing...

By the way, here is the phony crest that you will be referred to by future answerers:

http://www.houseofnames.com/fc.asp?sId=&...

Here is an article on the right to use coats of arms. You might find it interesting.

http://genealogy.about.com/gi/dynamic/of...

I have ancestors with the surname Hughes, I'm doing family research, looking for any related Hughes, it would be cool to find somebody I'm related to.

You wouldn't happen to live in Texas, would you?

www.4crests.com/tattoos.html
FEEL FREE TO EMAIL US AT: FAMILYCRESTS@GMAIL.COM

Coat of Arms Tatoo / Family Crest Tattoo:

We can research & draw your authentic, accurate Coat of Arms for TATTOOS. We can then email your Family Crest Tattoo to you as a JPG email attachment. Shipping is Free on this item since it is emailed to you as an email attachment.

Subtotal for Coat of Arms & Family Crests Store $13.75 to do research, artwork, etc.
(This was the cheapest place I could find. All others wanted upwards of $40 or thereabouts)

Stop and think, young Mr. Hughes:

houseofnames.com will show you a Coat of Arms that was (probably) once issued to someone with the same surname as yours, BUT:

Coats of arms were originally designed so knights could tell each other apart. They were given to individuals, not surnames or families. If, for instance, every knight named "Smith" (Carpenter, Baker, Johnson . . .) used the same coat of arms, there would be a crowd of knights riding around with the same coat of arms painted on their shields. It would be as confusing as a football game where both sides wore blue uniforms and all the players were number 12.

They were not given to just anyone, either; you had to be rich and want to brag, or else be born to a noble family.

The eldest legitimate son inherits his father's Coats of Arms. He passes it on to his eldest legitimate son, and so on; that's where the myth of a "Family" Coat of arms comes from. Only one person can have a given coat of arms at one time.

People who sell T-shirts and coffee mugs encourage the gullible to believe Coats of Arms are for a surname. Let us suppose Sir Peregrine Reginald Smith, born in 1412, had a wondeful Coat of Arms, a rampant dragon argent on a field azure.

Which would be easier - to sell that Coat of Arms on coffee mugs to everyone in the world named Smith, or to track down the eldest son of the eldest son of . . . Sir Peregrine, 14 generations later? That 14th great grandson might buy a coffee mug for everyone in his household, but that would only be four mugs.

If you could get 1% of the 3 million people in the USA named Smith to buy a mug, you'd be in retailer's heaven. Some of their ancestors might have been Schmidt in Germany or Smithowski in Poland, but who cares? 30,000 mugs at $11.95 each . . .

Go with your girlfriend's name or your high school mascot. Or, wait until you do something memorable and get a tattoo to commemorate it. I got a tattoo from the Sea Dayaks of Borneo when I was in the Peace Corps. About half the guys in my training group did. There's an elderly gentleman in my church who has the 101st Division "Sceaming Eagle" on his shoulder. He jumped into Normandy.