who still has a family crest ( code of arms)?

Question

I don't anymore I guess we broke the chain but you may.

I've heard it called both but I guess it is hard to tell accents

Answer 1

I thought all British and European surnames had a coat of arms. Mine just has a freaking dull sheaf of wheat though.

Answer 2

There is no such thing as a family crest. A crest is the uppermost part of a COAT of arms, not code of arms. Coats of Arms are issued to individuals of the nobility, not families. If one of your ancestors had a coat of arms that does not mean that you are entitled to use the same coat of arms. If your ancestor was an earl, count, marquis, knight, baron,etc. and the title still exists it is possible that whoever holds the title uses the same coat of arms.

If you are of Irish descent, however, the ancient Brehon law is still observed concerning coats of arms and if you know what clan you belong to you may use the clan arms. If the Clanchief is recognized as a noble by some country which permits nobility ( Ireland does not grant titles anymore) the Clanchief will have his personal coat of arms, probably a more elaborate version of the clan arms, that only he is allowed to use.

Answer 3

Strictly speaking there are no family coats of arms. In the British system a coat of arms is awarded to a person and not a family. His decendants make slight changes (in accordance with Heraldic rules) which give them their own coats of arms. There is no authority in the the USA which grants coats of arms but, on the other hand, there is no law which says you cannot adopt your own coat of arms. Scottish Clans do have Clan Badges and I am sure there is one for MacDonald.

Answer 4

Yes, my mother does. Nothing official, but it is what her family coat of arms was. We can loosely ( I mean very loosely) trace our Irish side back to a King Oleo of Cass and I was told he was in the Dalcassion hills. I don't have the correct spellings so I'm sorry. My mothers maiden name was Curry and her family was from County Tyrone in Ireland.

My grandmothers name was Boyd. Seems the Boyd's were land caretakers for the English in the same county as the Irish side. Coincidental that a couple hundred years later these two families were joined in marriage. I can only trace some of those roots back to about 1690.

I wish I could recall the Latin on the coat but cant. There were two Curry Coats and name was spelled differently. Think one spelling was something like Curragh but not sure.

Answer 5

A CODE of arms means treat every gun as if it were loaded, clean your rifle every night before you you go sleep in a combat zone and if you shoot a bird or animal you have to eat it.

A COAT of arms is what knights had painted on their shields so people could tell who was inside. The crest was the top part. It passes down to the eldest legitimate son. They were awarded to individuals, not families.

Answer 6

My family fell out of the ranks of nobility in 1670. The last in my chain of eldest-son nobles died in Canada. Since then, there have been a few of my lines where people have created a coat of arms for people to use, and they're more legitimate than the ones on House of Names or the other scam sites...because these have been created and copyrighted for any descendent of the Canadian immigrant named on them to use as their own.

Answer 7

I've been told we have some sort of coat of arms, and a tartan, but I've never laid eyes on them. They're apparently filed away in some bank or two for safe keeping. I really, really want to see 'em, but family problems have prevented it.