Do Brits care about the coat of arms associated with their surname?

I was in an Edinburgh tartan shop (I'm a brit) and asked the guy working there how many Americans come in claiming that they were "really Scottish" he gave me a very tired look and said "all of them"

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honkymotherfucker1@reddit

Hey man I’m scahdish, we’ve come home to trace our roots. So happy we’re with our people now!

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showquotedtext@reddit

Yer not me focken people ye wee cuent, get oot.

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That brings back a childhood memory of going to visit Scottish relatives and being taken to a shop to buy me a kilt and wanting one pattern and being told I had to have the family one lol. But yes a lot of Americans every time I have visited Scotland and they all seem to have Scottish ancestry lol. Always had a soft spot for Scotland both from family and just visiting on many occasions. Hubby and I had our first weekend away together in Edinburgh and later on honeymooned at the gorgeous Cameron house on the banks of Loch Lomond. So waving at you lovely lot in Scotland from down here in Lancashire lol

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Chibeau@reddit

Great, absolutely fantastic. Thanks a lot!
Starts humming 'bonnie banks of loch Lomond' I just got rid of it and now it's stuck again 😭😭😭

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GingerWindsorSoup@reddit

All dating from the visit of George the fourth to Edinburgh and Sir Walter Scott created a fantasy Highland tartan fest that has put Scottish identity and cultural history out of sync for the last two hundred years. Of course folk loved it, all tartan wallpaper, carpets, ‘trews’ and various tailors creating ‘clan’ tartans for lairds who had cleared their lands of their tenants and packed them off to the USA and the colonies.

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mrshakeshaft@reddit

What’s a bit annoying is that kilts are fucking brilliant. They look really comfortable and they look fantastic. They are the best formal dress to come out of the British isles (I think). I’m going to get a kilt.

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Foundation_Wrong@reddit

It’s not just the Scots, we have Welsh cilts, and Cornish and Irish. Isle of Man etc. Its Celtic dress.

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mrshakeshaft@reddit

It’s all bollocks. The celts didn’t wear kilts. Kilts in their current form didn’t turn up until the 18th century, invented by a guy from Lancashire. Then it spread to wales, Cornwall and Northern Ireland. Wool trousers would be a more traditional Celtic form of dress. Clan tartan is a recent invention as well.

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Foundation_Wrong@reddit

Oh I know! The celts indeed wore leggings similar to trousers. The use of cilts/kilts by the Celtic nations is a modern thing. It’s wrapped up with Nationalism and pride in the identity of Wales. The invention of clan and other groups tartans is a very lucrative business I’m sure. Yma o hyd! Cymru am byth! My husband looks gorgeous in his cilt with all the accoutrements.

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GingerWindsorSoup@reddit

The natural and ancient tartans look good.

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Present_Program6554@reddit

Buy one that matches your eyes.

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Newburyrat@reddit

Also if someone tries to sell you an “Irish clan tartan“ or any other rubbish!

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GingerWindsorSoup@reddit

Welsh tartan worries me.

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Present_Program6554@reddit

What about Breton?

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GingerWindsorSoup@reddit

Or Cornish. I expect there’s English , there are Northumbrian kilts.

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chris5689965467@reddit

This is the relevant page at the College of Arms. It is all bollocks.

https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/services/proving-a-right-to-arms

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WoollenItBeNice@reddit

Well, "armigerous" is now my word of the day

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Internet-Dick-Joke@reddit

Commercial slop for locals in the UK, too. They sell fridge magnets and keyrings with them at tourist attractions, particularly castles and other such places, and even 'origin of your surname' certificates.

I think the key difference is that nobody much in the UK puts any real stock into it or takes it seriously, it's just a kitschy knick-knack to stick on the fridge and then forget about except for when you need whatever it's pinning to the fridge.

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Educational-Bus4634@reddit

Can confirm, a tourist place local to me sells massive gold-framed certificates with the coat of arms, origins, history of the name, and 'famous' people with the same (or similar) surname. I was gifted one for my birthday a couple years ago, got to find out that people with surnames a few letters off from mine died in the Halifax explosion. You wouldn't believe how much knowing that changed my life!

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WesternRover@reddit

That's the same for the vast majority of Americans, too. All the ones I know who have actually bought a crest on a T-shirt or framed embroidery or what have you, just wear the shirt or hang the embroidery inside and don't put the crest on their car, outside their house, on their personal stationery, in their social media avatar, or wherever you might expect someone to put it who does take it seriously.

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Jemima_puddledook678@reddit

Wearing a shirt or hanging it up would already be far too much for most people in the UK, who know it’s fake and wouldn’t really go beyond a fridge magnet at most.

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spikewilliams2@reddit

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40097665

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ConsistentBorder6689@reddit

As an english person I have no idea wtf you're even talking about, let alone the fact my surname comes from my step grandfather so isn't even my blood

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Boroboy72@reddit

"two crossed dead Frenchman, emblazoned on a mound of dead Frenchman motif,"

Baaaaaa

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Expert-Firefighter48@reddit

-General Melchett

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darci7@reddit

Never heard of it before

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soundman32@reddit

From the official web site that allocates coats of arms:

Coats of arms belong to specific individuals and families and there is no such thing as a coat of arms for a family name.

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OK-STEVE-OK@reddit

Blocked

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soundman32@reddit

Does that mean you come from the family Minecraft ?

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Crivens999@reddit

Of course, what else would I put over the shitter? Every man and his dog has one in the shed at least. Sometimes 3 or 4 if we have multiple sheds. It depends how well we knew the Queen, obviously. If you only had a cup of tea with her once every 6 months, then you are the lowest of the low. Maybe only 1 coat of arms for them. Homeless people get theirs frozen in carbonite until they can prove they are in acceptable condition for a scone with the King.

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LondonWill8@reddit

No.

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Antique-Link3477@reddit

Anglo Americans seem to want to believe their ancestors were all either noble English aristocrats, Highland clan leaders or valiant Irish freedom fighting warriors. In reality the vast majority were peasants, labourers or possibly even tradesmen or merchants. Sometimes surnames were adopted by peasants from the Lords they served under which further diminishes their meaning. Most people do have noble ancestors but if you're finding out on the Internet the chances are it's no more than the average Briton.

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Ok-Flamingo2801@reddit

I had a relative who was tracing the family history. Last I heard it was just all farmers.

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ChunteringBadger@reddit

I recently found out my surname comes from a Yorkshire insult. Not exactly something people are going to want to embroider on their linens, but if you know my family the name tracks.

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Austen_Tasseltine@reddit

Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr/Ms Wazzock.

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CommercialMirror7183@reddit

Good evening Mr/Ms MardyBum, please take a seat.

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Antique-Link3477@reddit

Nice to meet you Mr reyt daft apeth

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kb-g@reddit

And convicts. We transported a fair number of convicts to the USA until the American revolution.

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Afraid-Priority-9700@reddit

That's exactly how it worked with clans in Scotland; a lot of people assume that because they've got a clan surname that they must be descended from the clan chiefs, but the reality is that peasants under the clan chief would adopt their surname. It was a way of bringing yourself and your family under the clan's protection, even if you were a peasant with nothing but a couple of cows to your own name. That's why there are so, so many of us- we can't all be descended from the leader.

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VisKopen@reddit

That's why there are so, so many of us- we can't all be descended from the leader.

Why not? The number of ancestors quickly balloons when you go back in time.

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Shoddy-Definition-13@reddit

My genius uncle, who is also the family genealogist has stated that we descend from King Malcolm of Scotland. And that by the number of inhabitants of Great Britain now, and then, so do 95% of the rest of you lot.

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Present_Program6554@reddit

I used every hint on Ancestry once and found myself descended from Malcolm and every other king in Western Europe. I keep that tree private just for giggles now and again.

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Shoddy-Definition-13@reddit

Exactly.

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surreyade@reddit

Going by my family tree I’m descended from colliers, farmers, fishermen, labourers and servants.

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Antique-Link3477@reddit

My family have done a lot of research and kept a lot of records and as far as I know I am descended from labourers, foundrymen, Jamaican slaves, transatlantic merchants, petty aristocracy, coachbuilders, British Indian colonists, Irish famine survivors, Orange order Scots etc.

To choose one line above all the others is futile.

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Good_Support636@reddit

Jamaican slaves,

Are you slightly tan?

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GnaphaliumUliginosum@reddit

'Orange order Scots'

& slightly black as well as slightly tan?

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Iokastez@reddit

Holy shit this made me cackle 😆 (I’m Irish 🤣)

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Present_Program6554@reddit

Nice one.

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Antique-Link3477@reddit

Aye

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chamekke@reddit

This always reminds me of Akbar & Jeff’s Reincarnation Hut. In a past life, you may have been… a dazzling princess! A hapless yeoman! A crafty trilobite!

Mind you, if that trilobite came with a coat of arms…

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storyhiss@reddit

Nah, my surname is one of the most famous in English history and yet I can never find it on keyrings at the gift shops in museums and castles and similar. I presume the only people that care are families that actually have the right to their arms, but that's definitely not my branch.

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Me_Hairy@reddit

Is your last name Hitler?

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storyhiss@reddit

I said English not Austrian. I married into the name, I probably would have kept my maiden name if I fell in love with Mr Hitler!

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Me_Hairy@reddit

No you said in English history. I’d suggest Adolf played a large part in your history. Ours too.

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storyhiss@reddit

Fair enough, the name is English though, and I believe originated pre Norman invasion, but was one of the dukedoms given out around 14C. I probably married into the family that were serfs that belonged to them though, rather than being a few steps away from nobility.

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Me_Hairy@reddit

I definitely am from peasants, you don’t fuck off to New Zealand in the 1800’s if you’re landed gentry.

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IcemanGeneMalenko@reddit

No, we're not hysterically obsessed over heritage and where our families originate from compared to Americans

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

"Hysterically obsessed" is a major overstatement. Most Americans will tell you "My family is from X" but it doesn't mean that they've done any research or care anything about that country historically, culturally, or otherwise - much less visited. It's simply an acknowledgment that we are not indigenous to North America.

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Ok_Student_3292@reddit

Most Americans are from America and you're treating distant heritage like this because modern America put capitalism where your culture should be.

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Educational_Jury_822@reddit

Seems to be a big thing for Canadians for some reason. There are about 6 that I know who when introduced to me the first thing they said before even mentioning their name was to tell me they were “the same as me” by either being Scottish, Irish or English in very thick Canadian accents. Often followed by asking where in London I lived 😂 Not sure why it’s an obsession to claim you are what you are not, specifically a nationality. We are likely all descendants of Genghis khan, doesn’t make me Mongolian.

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Historical_Heron4801@reddit

I once met a Canadian chap who told me he was berated in Canada, by Canadians for identifying as...Canadian.

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Educational_Jury_822@reddit

Both the US and Canada have great cultures and identities, the individual states have their own history which I think they can all be proud of or at least they have culture, but for some reason all the ones I meet feel an obsession to say they are from somewhere else when in reality maybe their great great grandparents came from somewhere else. Like yeah cool story, if I had a Scot come up to me and start going on about how Scottish he was I would find it odd

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EducationalRiver1@reddit

Except the ones who claim to be Irish or Scottish because some great-great-great-grandfather was. They definitely get hysterical about it. It's really odd.

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Bluntbutnotonpurpose@reddit

Or Italian...

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stevebehindthescreen@reddit

You spelled understatement wrong.

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Illustrious_Sea7480@reddit

"it doesn't mean that they've done any research or care anything about that country historically, culturally, or otherwise - much less visited"

We've noticed!

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stevebehindthescreen@reddit

We've definately all noticed that one.

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Disastrous_Cloud_558@reddit

Unless you’re actual nobility, you’re a bit of a twat if you think this matters,

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Ok_Student_3292@reddit

I'd go further and say that unless you are a current member of the upper class with a title and land and a reason to use your coat of arms/crest regularly, and you care about this, you are a total twat.

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

It not that it "matters" to anyone other than the family, certainly not bragging rights as we don't have nobility here (thankfully) and most American's don't care about titles.

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ALA02@reddit

Nobody in the UK in 2025 gives a flying fuck about the “nobility” and their wanky titles either. Just sounds like you lot have been watching too much Downton Abbey.

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FootballPublic7974@reddit

we don't have nobility here

Sure about that? Agent Orange seems to be adopting all of the traditional trappings of medieval nobility. Most of them would shit in a gold toilet by preference.

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

Which is why there were "No Kings" protests in all 50 states a few weeks ago.

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Disastrous_Cloud_558@reddit

Americans don’t care about titles but they do care about paying money for spurious coats of arms apparently.

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stevebehindthescreen@reddit

Yes, sir, no, madam. Do you understand what a title is?

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

Perhaps not. I'm not from the UK. Care to explain?

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pigglewiggle23@reddit

I don't except we have an antique chair that has a coat of arms on it and my grandad always told me it was ours but I've never found proof, I'd be interested to know if he was right or not but also I don't see why we'd have a coat of arms.

One day I might put some effort into it but outside of interest in an old chair I don't care that much, it's just one of those interesting family history things, I'd never actually use the thing.

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Nitzer9ine@reddit

No, but I was curious and just found out my family crest is similar to the band The Bollox's logo and I'm slightly happy. Tura Lu.

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Money_Walrus3098@reddit

In Scotland it still holds relevance for many people. My brother got married in a kilt made from our clan tartan, for example. And in primary school I was assigned a project to look up my clan’s coat of arms, motto and tartan.

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HansNiesenBumsedesi@reddit

Nobody here would give a single toss.

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icebox_Lew@reddit

As a Brit in America, ive ha d a couple of people excitedly show me their family crest. One even had it tattooed. Quite hard to keep a straight face here, sometimes.

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Ok_Student_3292@reddit

I did some family tree research, found out my family used to be posh, showed dad the coat of arms and crests granted to various branches of the family, and then a while later he brought them up and asked if I wanted something with one of them on. I said god no because why would any sane person want to lay claim to a coat of arms that the family hasn't used since we had money and why would I want to look like an American with no concept of coats and crests.

Dad then rolled up his sleeve to show me he got some of the crests I found tattooed.

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ChadHanna@reddit

Was it a crest, or a full achievement of arms? A crest is like a badge.

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MaggotyJizzGulper@reddit

I lived in Louisiana for a while & a guy kept telling me that he was Wallish which I assumed was some sort of Dutch type place, after a beer or two more I realised he was laughably incorrectly telling me a Welshman that he is also from “Walls” & is a “Wallish” person, he then asked if we have electric in “Walls”.

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HansNiesenBumsedesi@reddit

There’s a place on the Northumberland/Durham border called Wallish Walls. Maybe he was from there.

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GnaphaliumUliginosum@reddit

But Walloons are Belgian (or French, or an independent country, depending on their politics).

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pafrac@reddit

Properly pronounced Walloons are. Pronounced in a drunk Louisiana accent they're from Wales. Probably.

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Juliaw1510@reddit

God that is really weird.

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SCWeak@reddit

I know a few here that do 🙄

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Ok_Student_3292@reddit

My family has been granted a bunch of them but no one has bothered using them for generations - probably stopped using them when we ran out of money - and I told my dad that if I ever used any of them he had permission to give my head a wobble because it's all daft and pretentious, only for dad to show me he got two of the coats in the family tree tattooed on himself.

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YourLittleRuth@reddit

Anyone who actually has a coat of arms probably assumes everyone has one, and nobody else cares.

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MostTattyBojangles@reddit

If a British person legit showed pride in a coat of arms my first impression would be they would be a toff. Probably not landed gentry but riding the coat tails of it.

Definitely not something the average working class family would have, or care about.

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SubjectAd9940@reddit

Most ‘toffs’ are down to earth most of the time, people who go over the top about their Coat of. Arms etc are more likely wanting you to THINK that they are toffs rather than actually being one!

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FootballPublic7974@reddit

my first impression would be they’re a toff

I'd assume they were a wanker (like my ex BiL who had many an ego wank over this sort of shite)

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OK-STEVE-OK@reddit

God! You sound bitter

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GingerWindsorSoup@reddit

When I was a child our local gas engineer was a baronet - granted in the 17th century- his wife worked in the local bakery- they had a superb complicated coat of arms but had slid down the social,scale over the centuries.

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GnaphaliumUliginosum@reddit

I would assume most folks with a coat of arms have a title and would be more likely to care about the title than the arms

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LettusLeafus@reddit

My Dad was into his family history and got his coat of arms, but it was a long drawn out process. You need to petition the heraldic authority in whatever region you live in. You need to prove your eligibility to an existing arms through a direct male line or that you should be granted a new arms.

I seem to remember they need to change the design slightly with each generation and women would get a different design from their husband, so you need to go through a design process. It is not cheap either, with a minimum of several thousand pounds.

This all means that very few people bother to go through this process.

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mellonians@reddit

I'm into my family history. The family founded schools and charities and were big in certain industries. I only know what the family coat of arms looks like because some people wear it. (I'm deliberately being vague).

Even so, I have no desire to buy one, don't care all that much about it and don't know anyone who ever has. Sounds like something Americans would buy to claim they're ⅛ scottish because one of their ancestors loved Scotland so much they fucked off to the US at the first opportunity.

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SubjectAd9940@reddit

Simular here, my father has traced back the family tree to the 1740’s, however the only coat of arms that he has is on a paper weight that is kept in the bottom draw in his study. That’s quite sufficient, anything more than that is just not the done thing.

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FootballPublic7974@reddit

To be fair, a lot of people left Scotland because of the clearances, rather than the shit weather and Irn Bru.

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

"...because one of their ancestors loved Scotland so much they fucked off to the US at the first opportunity."

This made me laugh. Valid point. Hadn't considered it.

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Electrical_Business2@reddit

Yes... but only when inside of a castle gift shop.

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Expert-Let-238@reddit

Americans really are so dumb, why didn’t you just google it, you guys literally invented google

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mycatiscalledFrodo@reddit

My fil paid for one those heraldry things. He is from London but apparently his mum spun all sorts of tales about the narrow. Depending on which website I look at hos surname

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FrauAmarylis@reddit

No, but Brits care A LOT about the names of their houses.

Yes, the houses have names.

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CommercialMirror7183@reddit

I think naming houses is relative to whereabouts you live in the UK. Fancy houses in the Cotswolds and farming communities? Probably yes. 2bed terrace in Milton Keynes? No (unless you’re a Hyacinth Bucket-type!)

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Indigo-Waterfall@reddit

No. Also thats not how coats of arms work….

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ImInTheMealDeal@reddit

No.

What? No.

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Junior_Syrup_1036@reddit

More concerned whether we can afford to put our heating on in winter unfortunately:)

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MerlinMusic@reddit

In the UK, you mostly just find it on cheap tat. I think we had a fridge magnet with "our" coat-of-arms at one point. But of course, it was just the coat-of-arms of some noble who shared our surname. I get the impression that some Americans think that in Europe, each surname belongs to just a single family.

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disappointedinitall@reddit

Heh. What kind of idiots are paying money for those?

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Firstpoet@reddit

If you're Lord Snooty and his pals.

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StreamLikeDrug@reddit

My family never had a coat of arms because we're descended from peasants

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Pinkythebass@reddit

About as useful as those certificates we had decades ago saying we owned a tiny bit of the moon. I think I still have one in a drawer somewhere.

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kazzawozza42@reddit

Welsh surnames used to be patronymic (e. g. "ap Harri" = son of Harry). After the English finished conquering the country, this method was messing up their record keeping, so by the 15th century they forced everyone to take hereditary surnames. This was done by sticking to the current patronymic and making that a hereditary surname.

All the Joneses, Edwardses and Robertses of Wales are not related: they just happen to each have an ancestor who was called John, Edward or Robert back in the 15th century.

As such, coats of arms based on surnames are utterly irrelevant in Wales.

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LevelsBest@reddit

My husband and son are entitled to a coat of arms, proved and registered with the College of Arms. They aren't noble but a Victorian ancestor acquired it. It's a cool thing to have but it is very specific and the pedigree has to be precisely documented and attested. The stuff you buy in souvenir shops or websites is a pile of crap.

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fozzybear706@reddit

This is it. Many people think that it's exclusively associated with the nobility. They were originally for knights to have on their shields. Knights were the highest commoners in the land; middle class if you like. Probably half the population of England could apply to the college of arms as they have 'standing ' of one type or other, but the fees are quite high, so why bother?

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Riovem@reddit

Commercial slop, though not just Americans. Was with a Canadian in Edinburgh who spent an ungodly amount on their house tartan. From a definitely not Scottish surname.

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Wonderful_Falcon_318@reddit

Can't you design your own tartan on the Royal Mile?

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ZebraCrosser@reddit

There's a somewhat garishly orange Dutch tartan which I'm fairly sure is a recent concoction.

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HoareHouse@reddit

Maybe they're just descended from the ancient clan Bru of Cumbernauld?

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Present_Program6554@reddit

The Irn Bru tartan is different to the Dutch one.

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SatiricalScrotum@reddit

It’s made from girders.

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ZebraCrosser@reddit

😂Could be. While I think Dutch people generally aren't too familiar with that specific bit of orange, the people who thought it'd be smashing for us to have a fancy new orange tartan probably have had a sip at some point.

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FootballPublic7974@reddit

If you have the cash, you can pretty much do whatever the fuck you want.....I have some crayons and A4 if anyone wants to give me cold hard cash to design their "tartan"

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shinydoctor@reddit

I also have these supplies and am willing to design some crests to go with that tartan. There will be a giant cock and balls prominently displayed in each one.

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Wonderful_Falcon_318@reddit

I think that is what the business owners decided to do lol.

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Loose_Acanthaceae201@reddit

Designing your own tartan is orders of magnitude cooler than pretending you have anything to do with the coat of arms that just happens to have the same name as you.

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Wonderful_Falcon_318@reddit

I think you can buy a plastic heraldic shield too in some places.

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Loose_Acanthaceae201@reddit

We picked up a fridge magnet of the "coat of arms" of our (very common) surname when we were on holiday. We take it precisely as seriously as the spinning Space Needle.

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Riovem@reddit

Maybe. It's not something I'm interested in so I don't personally know.

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JacobDCRoss@reddit

Yeah. I am an American. I have spent time in Canada. This feels like it is way more prevalent with the Canadians than it is with the Americans.

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WeRW2020@reddit

If I found a fellow Brit who'd put any thought towards it then I'd have to stop talking to them

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OK-STEVE-OK@reddit

It's only a bit of fun. If you would stop talking to something over something this trivial most folks wouldn't want to take to you.

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WeRW2020@reddit

You sound like the kind of person that would care about a coat of arms. Please don't respond again.

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Forward-Slice3836@reddit

there is only one legally official way to have a coat of arms in england northern ireland and wales would be by https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk

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mohawkal@reddit

The ones who do are probably c*nts.

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prustage@reddit

I'm very interested in my family tree, but that does not extend to having a coat of arms. This is just a scam aimed at Americans.

The very fact that you mention your "family coat of arms" means that there is already some deception involved. Arms are awarded to individuals, not families - there is no such thing as a "family coat of arms".

Even if a particular American can trace their ancestry back to a particular British family, only direct descendants (males who are the sons, grandsons etc) of the specific individual (a nobleman) can bear the same design. Furthermore, only ONE individual at any given time is entitled to bear that design. Other members of the family can bear a similar design provided it is substantially different and this must be approved by the College of Arms

If you cannot provide evidence of a direct patriarchal linage with the individual nobleman (the armiger) who was first award the blazon, then you are not legally allowed to use it. If you design your own variation based on the original design, then it MUST be approved by the College of Arms.

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DefinitelynotDanger@reddit

This just makes me wonder what the 'coat of arms' that the scam shops actually are lmao

Did someone just draw random shit for every surname or have they just stolen real coat of arms?

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ZeusManEpic@reddit

From my (limited) knowledge, some places just sell the granted arms of a random individual who happened to have the surname, and some websites just make up their own.

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

I see. Thank you for that information. I have/had no understanding of the heraldry aspect of things. My American ancestor did not have the title (baronet) because he left before his father died. The name is tied to litigation so the path is clearer historically than it would be otherwise. His father had the COA, which I assumed (wrongly) meant it was family.

I realize now I am using these terms haphazardly, so I'm glad I asked!!

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qualityvote2@reddit

Hello u/Kit_Kitsune! Welcome to r/AskABrit!

For other users, does this post fit the subreddit?

If so, upvote this comment!

Otherwise, downvote this comment!

And if it does break the rules, downvote this comment and report this post!

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OK-STEVE-OK@reddit

Miserable Jobsworth

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Remarkable-Jury5160@reddit

Not bothered either way

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

Don't worry. I won't be back.

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QuickTemperature7014@reddit

Your family might have a coat of arms. Your surname does not.

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nineJohnjohn@reddit

Families don't, people do. For example, your dad will have arms which you may inherit but while he's using them you have to have something different. You'd use the same arms but with cadence (standard additions that show where you are in the family). The good news is that in the US you can assume arms yourself! Check r/heraldry for more details

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daveysprockett@reddit

The good news is that in the US you can assume arms yourself!

Would that be a result of the 2nd amendment?

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GnaphaliumUliginosum@reddit

I would love to hear the SCOTUS ruling that draws that conclusion.

No guns, but everyone is now officially an Earl!

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Business_Camel5233@reddit

Prohibited by Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8 of the Constitution:

“No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States”

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TheWinterKing@reddit

Haha fuck imagine if that was what it meant all along

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nineJohnjohn@reddit

Gonna start telling people that

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papayametallica@reddit

Nah because of some cunt in fancy dress chucking tea into the harbour

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lyricoloratura@reddit

Omg, my dad totally had arms, and wow — so does everyone in my family! (Do they have all their teeth? That’s another story…)

/s

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

Thank you. This is helpful information. I knew nothing about heraldry before this post.

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StatlerSalad@reddit

You can head over to r/heraldry for a few hours and you'll know even less than you did in no time!

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nineJohnjohn@reddit

You can't put colour on colour apart from when you can or if you're German

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

There are several different coat of arms associated with my surname, but only one that is associated with my family line. I figured the websites pumping them out based only on a last name are there to sell merch and it's just meaningless.

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andrinaivory@reddit

I believe that in traditional heraldry you have to prove your descent from the original bearer to wear the coat of arms for your surname. But anyone (with money) can come up with a new coat of arms.

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

Why would I want to wear it?

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mightypup1974@reddit

Or, if not wearing it, preventing people from using it if they have no right to

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

Use it how? I'm honestly asking.

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mightypup1974@reddit

It’s your property. You may want to use it as part of a business or stamp it on your house or belongings. Believe it or not heraldry is still a big business - lots of businesses still invest in heraldry and guard it jealously.

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Hazza_time@reddit

Ego

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

It doesn't meaning anything to anyone other than the wearer in the US. Literally no one else would care.

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ThePenultimateRolo@reddit

Im British and someone once showed me their coat of arms and im pretty sure they bought it off a website. Rolled my eyes so hard

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floofienewfie@reddit

Plural is coats of arms.

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Sad-Comedian4582@reddit

It's just a nonsense money spinner like naming a star after you or buying a square inch of land in Scotland to get a Lord of the Manse 'title' etc. Do it by all means for a bit of fun but it's meaningless really.

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Weekly_Beautiful_603@reddit

My surname is fairly common, and there are a bunch of different spellings. It’s also a name recorded since the C14th around the area my grandfather is from. There is an associated coat of arms.

At the same time, it’s not my family’s coat of arms. My family probably didn’t have a coat of arms. We probably just toiled like everyone else. Got quite excited when we discovered that you could grow more if you changed the crops up or put poo on the soil.

It’s nice to imagine that we are descended from people of the same name who left a mark on history, but even were it true, it wouldn’t rise above the level of “a fun fact about me”. Typically, people who have a coat of arms know that they have a coat of arms, because there’s no point having one if nobody tells anyone about it.

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Foreskin_Ad9356@reddit

never heard of this in my life

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Comfortable_Equal796@reddit

You can sell any old shite to the septics lol.

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ljr69@reddit

People with blood poisoning?

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Me_Hairy@reddit

Septic tank = yank

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Financial_Note_8369@reddit

We don’t generally worry about our ancestry unless we are part of the aristocracy. Very few of us have coats of arms. Out of interest, I have looked into my father’s line and as far as I can ascertain the oldest ancestor I can find was an agricultural worker in 1804 in Essex. With my surname being of French origin, I am assuming probably descended from Huguenot immigrants. With the absence of property or church records it is not possible to go back further.

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

Interesting! I just assumed that Europeans were able to trace their family lines back much further than the typical American.

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annakarenina66@reddit

the Americans were European colonists so they have literally the same ancestors though, so ability to trace far back is going to be identical.

(except when there is African ancestry mixed in obviously but I never ever hear Americans talking about those lines)

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lizzie_knits@reddit

Most people weren’t important enough in the dim and distant path. Before compulsory registrations of births etc it was only really property owners and above that were recorded, just purely for protection of land and property etc.

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ChunteringBadger@reddit

It’s really pretty dependent upon things like parish records and censuses, and with the former, that’s assuming those records weren’t destroyed in events over time (like in the Great Fire of London, or the destruction of the Dublin Public Records office that held records back to medieval times in the Irish Civil War). We’re fairly sure that my ex’s family have been peasants in the Thames valley since East London was marsh and huts, but the first written record we can find of his family is in the 1841 London census. The history is old, but written evidence of it for average folks can be limited.

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malcolmmonkey@reddit

As as a general rule: anyone who has ever shown you or told you about their coat of arms probably has no right to one in the first place.

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TwpMun@reddit

Its complete nonsense and a scam

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DankOubliette@reddit

Nope.

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wtf_amirite@reddit

Coats of arms no, couldn’t give a shit.

My clan, yes i recognise that and identify with that, and wear the tartan (Gordon).

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Visible-Equal8544@reddit

Reminds me of this funny item …

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40097665

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thedukeofwankington@reddit

Most of us are peasants with no coat of arms.

Coat of arms for posh twat land owners

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Majestic-Pen-8800@reddit

My distant relative John Geele of Smarden, Kent genuinely had a coat of arms but this was in around 1750.

I’m just some dude from Wigan and if I started trying to use that or another coat of arms, I’d just get told to fuck off.

Anyone who sells these things are nothing but grifters.

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ratscabs@reddit

My surname comes from deepest darkest Yorkshire, where pre-Industrial Revolution my ancestors would have very humble subsistence farmers and the meaning of my name reflects that.

Yet, somewhat curiously(?), I can easily find myself a coat of arms, a tartan, and God knows what else, all apparently associated with my name.

Don’t think so, somehow.

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LaraH39@reddit

No it's made up. Much like the "clan tartans" that people flog to tanks.

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Adventurous_Break_61@reddit

That military equipment and it's cultural appropriation.

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LaraH39@reddit

Oh hells bells! 😆 Thanks I've changed it lol

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ZebraCrosser@reddit

So here's me wondering what the original was.

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LaraH39@reddit

I typed "tanks" instead of "yanks" lol

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ZebraCrosser@reddit

😂 That does change things a bit

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LaraH39@reddit

It does! 😆

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EUskeptik@reddit

Not remotely interested, thanks.

-oo-

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sharplight141@reddit

Not particularly, no

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60svintage@reddit

Nope. It is utter bollocks unless you really want a fake version. Its like those 'become a Lord by buying a sqare foot of land in Scotland scams.

Its only Americans who want money on shit that "proves" they have Scottish heritage.

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Kind_Breadfruit_7560@reddit

Nope

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ALA02@reddit

Why are Americans so obsessed with being seen as anything other than American?

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Norman_debris@reddit

You've had some decent answers, so sounds like it's cleared up. But just want to say sorry. Americans asking any questions here get unfairly piled on and ridiculed. It's a bit pathetic. Hope it doesn't put you off this country.

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

Thank you for this. I'm visiting in the spring and now I'm nervous. hah! But I have learned better than to say "my family is from..." as that clearly pisses people off. Good to know.

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LunaLgd@reddit

American here and I went to London for the first time earlier this year (my first time overseas at all). Don’t worry! Everyone was so friendly and helpful. I felt far more welcome there than I do visiting cities as a tourist in our country.

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fothergillfuckup@reddit

I didn't know we all had one?

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nasted@reddit

100% made-up, commercial tat for unsuspecting persons.

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floofienewfie@reddit

I do genealogy and family history. One of the really really irritating things for me. Is someone with a surname who has a coat of arms associated with that surname will post it as if it’s theirs. It’s not.

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chroniccomplexcase@reddit

I hate it on ancestry when you find someone who is related to you that is on someone else’s tree and they’ve got weird profile pictures like the COA or the union flag- and it’s clearly been added by an American. Often the COA is the one designated to the surname when it’s descended from France when this line is the Irish descendancy and so the same surname has a difference COA. Even worse is when they have added the wrong location, so instead of “Birmingham, England” it’s “Birmingham Alabama”.

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Educational-Bus4634@reddit

There's also often multiple COAs for the same surname to muddy the waters more, as happened with my mum's side of the family. Not American but a lot of her side are obsessed with family history (one wrote an entire book about our family, for reference of how deep the obsession goes; in fairness it is a pretty interesting book) but each one stumbles across a different COA and clings to it with absolute certainty.

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Kcufasu@reddit

The what

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skibbin@reddit

I have it tattooed on my cheek. Not that cheek.

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Shadowscarab93@reddit

Scottish clan names have crests

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SalamanderSylph@reddit

Irish as well, I got a signet ring with my family crest for my 30th birthday

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BikerScowt@reddit

Yeah, my grandad had the clan crest up for as long as I can remember. My dad has it now, I'll no doubt have it next and it will go up on my wall somewhere.

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Vivid_Employment8635@reddit

No. With a few exceptions you will only have a coat of arms if you’re aristocracy or closely related to them. That’s not most Brits, or most British-descended Americans. Anything telling you otherwise is a scam.

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Iain365@reddit

No

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nacnud_uk@reddit

No . Pish.

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Professional-Bear857@reddit

No, also find it odd how Americans have this idea that their ancestors must have been important people, when most of the people leaving to go to the colonies were going for a better life, quite often due to their lives being bad at home, due to poverty, economic exclusion etc.

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

The Americans I know that do genealogical research are not doing it because they hope someone in the past was a princess. They want to learn about their family's history. It's interesting to some. That's all.

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Professional-Bear857@reddit

Well the idea of a crest or family emblem indicates historic wealth or social status and many surnames come from the jobs people did, so lots of people with the same surname won't be related to each other.

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

I think the nobility angle is what is getting under the skin of so many responses. I honestly didn't know that they were the only ones with a crest or COA. The websites that say they will show you the family crest if you just type in a surname are probably the most at fault for the misunderstanding.

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Azyall@reddit

It's not just nobility. My family were awarded a coat of arms during the (English) Civil War and they were yeoman farmers. My late father, I believe, was the last person with a right to it, since he was the only son, and he only had a daughter (me). I'm not doxing myself on Reddit, but I can tell you that the coat of arms commonly associated with my pre-marriage surname that you could pick up in a souvenir shop or whatever is not remotely the same as the family's actual coat of arms.

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Professional-Bear857@reddit

It's probably also due to cultural differences, people in England generally have an aversion to showing off, and this kind of thing is seen as showing off or trying to claim a false sense of importance. As you say you didn't know the connection between these kinds of symbols of nobility and such like. Also worth pointing out that there are many people in England who dislike the royals and the nobility (three civil wars were fought to restrain the power of the monarchy).

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PatchyWhiskers@reddit

There aren't very many nobles and most British people won't ever meet one except maybe in passing.

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FootballPublic7974@reddit

Ask yourself if this is something you're paying for. Then ask why they may be tempted to "creatively reimagine " crests for the 99% who don't have a "noble" surname.

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PatchyWhiskers@reddit

Some of them went because they were from important families, had a bit of money, but were second or third sons and weren't going to inherit anything. This is the origin story of a number of slaver families.

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Lazy_Bluebird4060@reddit

They aren't the most intelligent of people.

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Illustrious_Sea7480@reddit

(Or being religious fanatics who found Puritanism too lax).

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SilverellaUK@reddit

Exactly, not because they were persecuted, but because they weren't allowed to persecute others.

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nerd-a-lert@reddit

Glad you asked and learned the truth. Nothing wrong with that.

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blackcurrantcat@reddit

I have yet to meet a single British person in my near 47 years of being British who has a single idea what their coat of arms is, let alone any interest in finding out. I suppose if I’d met anyone who had one they might mention it at some point but this idea that we’re all descended from someone noble is absolute codswallop and I find it hard to believe anyone with more than 1 brain cell would think otherwise.

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paddlingswan@reddit

For non-noble Brits, we get ‘our’ coat of arms on keychains in tourist shops when we go on holiday.

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Adhyskonydh@reddit

Its the same as people who buy a star to be named after them or a square foot of land in Scotland and think they can be called a Lord or Lady of the manor.

Gullible.

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The-Mandolinist@reddit

My family has a coat of arms for their surname and have had it for a couple of hundred years along with a family motto. We also have some family crest signet rings that possibly date back to the late 18th century - they were for sealing letters.

But I don’t think that’s usual for a Brit. I don’t know many other people who do.

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e1-11@reddit

No

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seasonseasonseas@reddit

No.

This is American nonsense.

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HeidiDover@reddit

Sadly, there is a lot of that going around in America.

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Capital-Attitude-770@reddit

American nonces also !

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wtclim@reddit

To be fair we're not short of those here either.

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Capital-Attitude-770@reddit

Hence ..always carry a flashlight !

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iamthefirebird@reddit

It's nonsense. Generic nonsense that has nothing to do with my actual family. You think all people with the surname Carter or Jones are related? No. If I want heraldry, I'll make my own.

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Kwinza@reddit

I've never heard of anyone who knows what theirs is.

I don't know mine.

Didn't even know they were a thing until this reddit post lol

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Positive_Passion4817@reddit

The thought my name has an associated coat of arms never even crossed my mind until I just read your post.

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DefinitelynotDanger@reddit

I'm British but I live in the US and one of the Americans I work with showed me his 'family coat of arms' that he had tattood on his chest.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that it's absolute shite.

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Shoddy-Definition-13@reddit

I remember when we got a “Learn about how the first {our surname} came to America” flyer trying to sell us something similar.

We know how and when, he bought a plane ticket and flew in 1973…he’s my dad.

These are always a scam.

(Answered by a Brit by citizenship by descent only, who will likely be making her way to permanent residence somewhere north of Hadrian’s wall in the next decade.)

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Shoddy-Definition-13@reddit

Also, my people are working class folks from Tilbury, we do not have a COA.

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Hotwheels303@reddit

This isn’t a normal American thing either. Not sure what OP is talking about

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Southern-Ad4477@reddit

Unless your family have been granted a coat of arms and crest then you dont really have much claim to use it (although there is nothing stopping you).

A lot of people with prominent surnames are probably descended from serfs who were tenants living on the land owned by that family.

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Quick-Low-3846@reddit

Who grants them and for what purpose?

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lumoslomas@reddit

My ancestor was granted a coat of arms for service in the hundred years war.

What service, we have absolutely no idea 😂 I guess he was just really good at killing french.

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StatlerSalad@reddit

They're granted by the Crown; via the College of Arms in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the Court of the Lord Lyon in Scotland

And then they're recorded and managed by the Kings of Arms. In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland that's the Garter King of Arms and in Scotland it's Lord Lyon King of Arms

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jastity@reddit

I have one of those! I have always assumed my husband’s ancestors were really good at picking turnips.

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

Interesting. That makes sense.

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Phaedo@reddit

You can apply for a coat of arms. Friend of mine did so and found it a fun time, but they also had some actually decent ideas for what was going to go into it. The herald was on board and the result was excellent.

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Annabelle_Sugarsweet@reddit

The book Tess of the D’urbervilles is a good way of showing how silly people pretending they are aristocracy is. Hardly anyone is an aristocrat with a coat of arms, the ones in shops are just made up for tourists.

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Origamiflipper@reddit

No

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Greedy_Morning_2141@reddit

Only if youre aristocracy, and thats a tiny tiny minority.

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Spare-Way7104@reddit

It’s an American thing. In a British context, it has less to do with ancestry and more to do with titled people who have a legal right to use a coat of arms. Ironically, all Americans usually pretend to be middle class, but this sort if thing is actually more for the upper classes.

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Novel_Individual_143@reddit

No

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ConsciousRoyal@reddit

I know of someone who legitimately had a coat of arms.

He took it no more seriously that you might do an inherited table, or a nice clock. It existed. He was quite pleased to have it. If someone mentioned it he was quite pleased to tell you why he had it. Otherwise it did not affect his life in any way.

Let’s say his name was Smythe. If your name was Smythe you could get a copy of his COA. But it’s a copy of something someone else (in his case) earned.

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BrummieS1@reddit

No Brits don't care about made up coats of arms based on their surname.

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Foxtrot7888@reddit

They’re not the coat of arms of that surname, they might be the coat of arms of someone with that surname but that doesn’t mean it applies to everyone with the same name.

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Equal-Row-554@reddit

Didn't realise that was even a thing in this day and age. Sound like utter codswallop.

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OrganizationOk5418@reddit

Fkn joking are'nt ya?

Why would anyone care what some privileged twat decided about a pattern?

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Sinocatk@reddit

I was about 35 when I found my family had a coat of arms when I wine round my old uncles house and he had it framed.

I was like wow I didn’t know that, turned out he just paid for it.

Used to work for a bloke that could trace his family tree way back to some old king as 330th cousin or something, had that kings coat of arms custom made to fit on the steering wheel of his car.

As far as I am aware I’m a descendant of peasants and tenant farmers. So I probably have less of a history of rapey murder twats in my ancestry.

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normannerd@reddit

It's all completely legit. And if you want a matching bridge from London to go with it, hit me up.

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SwitchBig7980@reddit

Only the aristocracy have a coat of arms. As you're American you're obviously not part of the aristocracy so this is all bullshit

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fozzybear706@reddit

That's not strictly true. Anyone of 'standing ' can be granted arms, 'standing ' can include having a degree, so the bar is not high, however. The fees are quite substantial because they are drawn by hand on a,scroll. Think about 5k a doctor friend of mine had done when he retired.

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SwitchBig7980@reddit

If you're a doctor and paying for a coat of arms in 2025 , it's isn't real. It doesn't mean anything.

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fozzybear706@reddit

It means you've got a pretty shield thing that you can put on your notepaper with full legal recognition from the crown. But yeah, when they were invented they were originally for knights who were pretty much the only people who were middle class.

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cinesister@reddit

The only reason I care about mine is I have it on a coaster which was in my dad’s home office. He passed away and now that coaster hosts my tea instead of his. ❤️ I don’t proclaim it’s anything more than a coaster though.

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seriously_this@reddit

Do Tartans count?

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Livewire____@reddit

No. Because it's someone else's coat of arms.

Coats of arms are individual.

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inide@reddit

The only time I've ever used it was while playing Crusader Kings, and that was because I started the game as one of my distant ancestors

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robfuscate@reddit

Well, an outlier here, my British father was obsessed with the family tree and ‘the coat of arms associated with the family name’; but, in his defence, his mother died when he was 2yo and he was shunted from family member to family member, and possibly even some time with Barnardos. I have always felt that he was looking for connection and that the family tree stuff and coat of arms was part of that.

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Bigbanghead@reddit

Very few families have their own Arms. It's mostly limited to those with an inherited title, such as a Viscount, or Duke. If your family has one, you would already know.

Some old Scottish families have their own tartan, but again you would already know.

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Minute-Transition755@reddit

A lot of Brits are quite hostile to the idea of inherited privilege. Most of us are descended from people who toiled on land rented from the elite, or in their factories or mines in appalling conditions, or are descended from people who were violently oppressed by people with crests and famous surnames. So no, not especially keen on crests and the like.

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Infinite-Squirrel696@reddit

Not in the slightest. Might have something to do with my surname being THE most common surname. I'm not even sure there is a coat of arms for it.

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healeyd@reddit

It’s bollocks. By some miracle everyone is a descendant of an Earl or Baron rather than some toothless pig farmer.

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Coralwood@reddit

My ancestor had a coat of arms, not me. It's part of my family history, but I'd never claim it as mine.

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APithyComment@reddit

No - unless your royalty.

Otherwise anyone can pay someone to make you a coat of arms

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Crazy_Breakfast_6327@reddit

All coats of arms are invented at some point, but there are rules to follow for the official ones. It can be interesting to research but, because many surnames are created for a place or occupation, there are many completely unrelated families that all have the same name, which confuses the issue.

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FootballPublic7974@reddit

Zero Fucks Given.

All of that stuff is just nostalgic bollocks designed to separate dumb Americans from their cash.

Go back even 100 years and you probably have 4-8 surnames in your family tree. It's only a matter of Patriarchal primacy that we have the one we happen to have.

I strongly suspect that my paternal Great GM came down from Scotland with a bastard in her belly who became my Grandfather and bearer of the surname I carry. Why the hell would I take any pride in that?

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Corrie7686@reddit

As a Scot, I know it's all Victorian design but yes. I have a fridge magnet. And it's fun for my son.

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vctrmldrw@reddit

Not so many suckers here.

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Straight_Block_8752@reddit

All coats should come with long sleeves for your arms. British culture is cold climate so they usually do wear long sleeve coats

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Opening_Cut_6379@reddit

Ordinary people can't trace their ancestors further back than 1538, the year Henry VIII started parish registers. Only nobility kept records before then. I see family trees on Ancestry by people called eg. Howard, Cromwell, desperate to prove they are related to nobility. They're the ones with the coat of arms all over their trees

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

Interesting! I assumed Brits - and Europeans generally - could trace their ancestry back much further.

Apart from one relative, my family lines can only be traced to 1792, 1666, and 1660. The two from the 1600s were from Britain, but I only know the jumping off point (Cheshire & Durham). Perhaps that is all there is to know after all. Certainly not seeking a tie to nobility. Just wondering how we got from there to here.

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FenianBastard847@reddit

Brit here. IDGAF.

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Professional-Day6965@reddit

Of course not. It's made up. Or rather they're the coat of arms of done random person in history who happened to have the same surname

[-]

PastorParcel@reddit

Oh yes sir, your four symbols are 'sucker, rube, mark and stooge' - you'll be the envy of everyone you know!

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2cbterry@reddit

Personally no

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Wonderful_Falcon_318@reddit

It is largely nonsense like those plastic heraldic shields in Irish tourist information centres.

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Curious_Reference408@reddit

Most Brits don't have a family coat of arms and most of the ones that used to exist were often not hereditary! That's only for royals and the aristocracy, who are a tiny percentage of the population. Whatever this shop is, it's selling bullshit!

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AnneKnightley@reddit

Only if you’re descended from nobility - the rest of us plebs don’t have one and don’t care. That sounds a lot like the scams where you can purchase a title and plot of land online.

[-]

linerva@reddit

TBH, the people I know who are descended from nobility also don't care (I'm a peasant as far back as can be said) as it really isn't a part of their life now.

Having ancestors in Burke's peerage or a family crest diesnt put food on the table, and a lot of aristocratic families and gentry lave long fallen into being just middle class. With the usual middle class problems.

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Gold_Permission_1547@reddit

Andrew?

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

But what even is "nobility"? It seems that some lesser titles were given because that family gave big money to someone in power, etc?

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keeponkeepingup@reddit

Couldn't care less if I tried

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maceion@reddit

Family on mother's side were pirates, slavers and thieves. Father's side were serfs. I do not think in terms of 'coat of arms' , even in The Lord Lyon King of Arms was prepared to grant one.

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

Sounds like a very interesting history!

My mother's family has a very interesting history, but it can't be traced beyond their arrival in the Virginia territory in 1792. They had been in America longer than that but it's unknowable. That's why some people look for generic information about a surname to see where they are "from."

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richStoke@reddit

You need to be aware that it’s meaningless. I was bought a Scottish title for Xmas and so am now a Laird and own land in Scotland 😂

[-]

Dry-Zucchini-1700@reddit

Have just remembered my family have a coat of arms. Discovered when I was about 7, and haven’t thought about it since till halfway through this thread when was imagining having one. Would be massively weird to ever mention it

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Marvel--Jesus@reddit

Probably not. I've never heard it mentioned in any conversation I've had with my fellow Brits.

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seven-cents@reddit

Same type of company that sells you a plot of "land" on the Moon

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Wasps_are_bastards@reddit

Sounds like a way to get Americans to spend money.

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Key_Butterscotch1009@reddit

Yes!

I have a 99p fridge magnet of my surname and a £6 scarf with my family tartan.

Apart from that no, not really.

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Global_Tea@reddit

Arms aren’t granted for names. My family had arms granted. We have a print of it somewhere in the loft, and don’t think about it.

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

I don't think about it either - which is why I asked this question.

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ExpectedBehaviour@reddit

If you didn’t think about it, you wouldn’t have asked the question.

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

I don't think about it in the sense that I don't have a print or anything like that. I just came across it in historical records, then upon further research all these crappy company websites started popping up selling shirts, keychains, etc. Seemed like it was likely garbage. That's why I asked.

Two things can be true at once.

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Whole_Stranger@reddit

I don't even know what mine would look like.

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fozzybear706@reddit

A coat of arms is granted to an individual or a legal pedson by the college of arms for England, Wales and many commonwealth countries. Scotland has a separate but similar system. Often a coat of arms can be granted to an heir which will be similar but again, they are granted to individuals and legal persons not to families. The American crap about family coat of arms is just crap; trying to fabricate a history.

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evelynsmee@reddit

Commercial slop. But mine does have ravens on it and we're an old name with an 800 year family tree, so I happen to like it but it certainly isn't something that comes up in normal conversation or getting plastered on walls or letterheads or anything silly like that

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Soggy-Mistake8910@reddit

No most of those are made-up tourist fodder. Most ordinary families wouldn't have a coat of arms.

They used to be sold at tourist attractions all over the place along with all sorts of other "exit through the gift shop" tat! Now the Internet lets them sell to a wider set of marks!

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

Thank you for that helpful information.

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Soggy-Mistake8910@reddit

Welcome

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RegularWhiteShark@reddit

Nope. I have a plaque somewhere with what’s meant to be my dad’s coat of arms with my mum’s coat of arms (as in, their families). They also have a Latin “family motto” written underneath that’s misspelt, which amuses me. My dad’s the kind of person that would but into that stuff, though (so don’t worry, Brits fall for it, too).

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cardanianofthegalaxy@reddit

No but I do care about my family tartan. Coincidentally it is my favourite colour.

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Dennyisthepisslord@reddit

Well my dad has some kinda description of the origin of our surname with a coat of arms on it but it'd one of those wtf do you buy a man kinda presents not something we particularly care about

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LiquoricePigTrotters@reddit

No.

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EllieW47@reddit

We had to make our own at primary school based on our surnames.

I got into a lot of trouble for painting my shield plain green. My logical mind could not fathom what I had done wrong. Apparently a seven year old should have instantly conjoured up the idea of a cricket match on a village green.

So it seems I care in the sense that I am bitter about the hour I spent thinking about them 40 years ago!

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

Making your own as a kid sounds like a fun project. Why was green "wrong"?

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Original_Day3073@reddit

Lol no, it's absolute garbage

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TobyADev@reddit

I don’t give a flying fuck tbh

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Familiar-Donut1986@reddit

Surnames don't have coats of arms, families do, but only the nobility have coats of arms.

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cake-bake-fake@reddit

I live in Scotland and have a Scottish surname. My parents have a small coat of arms in their ordinary home. So not total nonsense, but it depends how into history you are.

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Illustrious_Sea7480@reddit

What do you mean they have a small coat of arms in their ordinary home? Do you mean carved in to the house somewhere?

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EiectroBot@reddit

There’s no such thing as a coat of arms associated with a surname. What you see is fake and aimed at gullible tourists.

British and Irish people do not have an interest in these fake coat of arms.

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Princes_Slayer@reddit

My husband’s paternal side (Celtic) has its own coat of arms. He has a framed copy but it’s buried under the masses of shite he can’t throw away so it’s not like it’s hung up

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TotallyUniqueMoniker@reddit

No, but I’ve just googled my coat of arms and it’s pretty cool actually

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Kit_Kitsune@reddit (OP)

hah! Right?! The fake ones I've found are pretty interesting. That's what made me think it's all slop. One has a lion with blood drops throughout.

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Mickleborough@reddit

What those Americans want - but don’t know it - is to be armigerous. If they had lots of money, they could always get one created, legitimately.

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l337Chickens@reddit

Nope. And almost all of it is a scam/lie. Just having a certain surname does not entitle a person to use a specific coat of arms.

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Frequent-Ad4722@reddit

Absolutely just slop, we could not care less.

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Sensitive-Vast-4979@reddit

I care about my families celtic clan crest but the thing ur talking about i think is some weird American thing

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Leading_Screen_4216@reddit

The what, sorry?

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wildflower12345678@reddit

It's only posh families that have them as far as I am aware.

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Oghamstoner@reddit

I have mine flying on the banners from my one-bedroom castle.

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slb609@reddit

Nope. Tourism only.

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MattWillGrant@reddit

It's made up slop for Americans.

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Alternative_Guitar78@reddit

My family has a genuine historic one, but I'm so many generations removed from being a member of the gentry it really doesn't mean anything to me. Interesting though.

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