Family crest or coat of arms

[Bogstandard]

I have had a bit of feedback since I started to use my family crest.

I have researched my family (including my wife) back to a stage where with one more link you can call me Sir John (this is from my grandmothers line).

Eustace DE ARDERNE born 1162 Watford, Northants. Died 1213 Watford. Married Hawisia

This is from an entry in Burkes Peerage.

If you are from English, Irish or Scottish stock it is fairly easy to find your crest.

To get basic looking crests you can try here

http://www.allfamilycrests.com/

And what to paint on your shield from here

http://www.heraldry.ws/

There are many more very good looking crests, as mine, but you usually have to pay for them (I didn't).

Be very careful though, you can also get variations of a crest and motto from just the area from the UK you come from.

Treat yourself, go regal.

BTW, if you are from other areas of Europe, they are available as well.

John

 

[Brass_Machine]

Hey John

Here is mine:

Eric

 

[rake60]

Here's Mine!

We also have a family Motto:

"Late but in earnest"

It gets stranger!
There were so many left handed members of that clan that the Scottish castles of their
day were built with left spiral staircases rather than the normal spiral.

So now I can use the fact that I belong to that clan as an excuse for my strangeness!

Rick

 

[Bogstandard]

You should also be able to find how your shield was decorated for going into battle or joust.

I have attached mine

John

 

[Propforward]

Well,

here's my coat of arms:

It's a modern rendition from an old description - I quite like it anyway. Couldn't find one for going into battle - I don't think we had any knights in the family lineage.

The pen is mightier than the sword - family name is Shakespeare!

 

[Bogstandard]

Prop,

I think you will find that the actual shield part of the coat of arms is the required item.

John

 

[Propforward]

Excellent!

I'll get off to the armoury and get my shield taken care of. I always fancied giving jousting a go.

Although the highway patrol seem to take a dim view of it I've noticed! ;D

 

[Bogstandard]

Rick,

Found one that contains your motto as well. You don't need to be a member of a clan to be strange, just being a Scot will do that. A definite breed apart, and a good one to have on your side when the going gets tough.

For Marv, whom I know likes English nobility

John

 

[mklotz]

Yeah, right. Those are from some outfit that sells people "their" coat of arms based on a generic interpretation of their surname.

"Klotz" in German means a log or block (typically of wood). Sadly, this is where the Jews get "klutz" which has come to mean, in their tortured Yiddish, a blockhead. Many common German names (unlike the elite upper classes) derive from occupations. There's a good chance that my forbearers, most of whom came from the area south of Berlin, were involved in some aspect of lumbering.

In the town square of Mittenwald in Bavaria stands a statue of its most famous citizen, Matthias Klotz, who was, more or less, the Stradivarius of Germany. Klotz violins sell today for six figure prices. Sadly, to the best of my knowledge, I'm not related to him.

The stump on the coat of arms is simply the result of some yoyo looking up "klotz" in a German dictionary. A proper Klotz coat of arms would have two steam engines rampant over a double-headed imperial eagle with France clutched in one claw and Poland in the other and the inscription, "There are only two kinds of people, Germans and those who wish they were."

 

[rake60]

I've seen three crests with my family name and motto.

The shield is the same on all of them.
The Scot has a stags head, the English has the sun and I'll be
darned if I can remember what the Irish one is at this moment.

The names were all spelled the same, but pronounced differently.

Cur, Kear and Care would be the phonic spellings.

All I can figure is there must have been a medevil guy with that name
who had a fast horse and a love for travel about the UK islands back then.
(I'll bet it was one of those damn Scots!)

Rick

 

[CrewCab]

I'll be darned if I can remember what the Irish one is at this moment.

Probably a pint of Guinness :

CC

 

[Bogstandard]

As Marv correctly points out, these are generic coats of arms, and allow peasants to have their own bit of glory.

Unless of course you can truly trace your ancestors, and if I can get the final link I should be entitled to use somewhere in my crest the beginning of the line of my grandmother, attached.

John

 

[Bernd]

There's a good chance that my forbearers, most of whom came from the area south of Berlin, were involved in some aspect of lumbering.

Hey Marv, I came from south of Berlin. If you've noticed the name of my web site, Kingstone, and translate that into German you'll know the name of the town I was born in. I won't go into my last name because it's one of those that could have been an occupation. ;D We realy never found out. ???

Bernd