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Question: Does every family have a family crest!?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
No, a crest is only a small part of a coat of arms!.

There are numerous peddlers on the web, at airports, at shopping malls, in magazines selling coats of arms!.misnomer family crest!. Frequently they are valid coats of arms but what isn't valid is they make it sound like they belong to everyone with the same surname and they don't!.

They were and are granted to individual men and only the legitimate male line descendants are entitled to one!. Actually, there might have been more than one man with the same surname, not all necessarily related that were granted one, all different!. No one peddler will have all of them!. Tne only time they will have more than one is if more than one man with the same surname from different national origins were granted one, then they will have one of each and their might have been more!.

Don't be taken in by merchants of deceit!. They probably will have something in fine print indicating they don't belong to everyone with the same surname!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

No!. The crest is part of a coat of arms, and only families that were aristocracy or gentry would ever have had those!.

And even within such a family, only the head of of the family is entitled to use the coat of arms (and therefore the crest)!. It is NOT communal family property!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Nope, most of the world didn't even have last names when knights in shining armor roamed western Europe!. The handful that do legitimately have a family shield know their heritage for 1500 years and have halls full of portraits with all of their ancestors hanging around!. The rest of us weren't the knightly type!. We were more likely to be from the foot soldiers and farmers!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

god no, thats just stereotypes!. My family has never and will never have a crest unless one of us marries into rich roots, but i doubt that lolWww@QuestionHome@Com

noWww@QuestionHome@Com