Position:Home>Genealogy> Family crest??????????????

A crest is the top part of a coat of arms!.

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 designed so knights could tell each other apart when they were buttoned up in their suits of armor!. They were given to individuals, not families!. If, for instance, every knight named "Smith" 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!.

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 PROPERLY (See below) 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!.

If your surname is Smith and you come from Shropshire, you may find that Sir Albert Smith, Sir Bruce Smith and Sir Charles Smith, all from Shropshire, all had C of A!. If you do your research, you may find you descend from Sir Charles!. Now comes the question!. Is using his coat of arms proper!? Opinions differ!.

Some say it is like demanding room and board in the ancestral Smith estate in Shropshire, from the current owners - extremely rude, if not illegal!.

Some say it is like wearing a "Regimental" tie if you didn't serve in that regiment!. (Land's End sells British regimental ties by the thousands to Americans!. I would never buy one!.)

Some say it is like wearing a "Scotch Plaid" shirt when you don't belong to that clan!. (LL Bean sells tens of thousands; I have "Lindsay", myself!.)

Some say it is as harmless as wearing a Detroit Tigers ball cap when you didn't play for the team, or a UC Berkeley T-shrt when you didn't attend that University!. (Or a USC one, if you value brawn more than brains!.)Www@QuestionHome@Com

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there is NO such thing as a family crest or coat of arms!.

a coat of arms was given to a particular person and you MUST PROVE that you are descended from that specific person in order to legally use that coat of arms!.

You must contact the British Heraldry office in London, UK!.
I cannot seem to find their websiteWww@QuestionHome@Com

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