Methods you can use to find an ancestor’s coat of arms

You may be surprised to learn that a crest or coat of arms was often used by a specific person instead of all of the members of a particular family. There may have been a common root crest or coat of arms but this was usually personalized with different images so that it was possible to tell which member of a family someone was dealing with.

While this worked well in the past, it does mean that finding an accurate crest or coat of arms for you to display can be difficult. Here are some tips that you can use in order to make sure that the crest or coat of arms that you use in your home is the right one for your family.

Try to find out where your ancestor came from
It will make it much easier for you to find the information you are looking for if you know where your ancestor came from. Different countries tend to have different practices and traditions linked to heraldry and you may be surprised by how much a crest or coat of arms can vary from one country to the next. They may have used different animals on their crests or may have ascribed different meanings to animals, birds, plants or other images. For example, the fleur-de-lys had a different meaning in France than it did in other European countries.

Don’t be surprised if you have to look a long way back
Coats of arms have been used for a long time. You may find that in order to find the right crest or coat of arms for your family that you need to look quite a long way back. Often, crests and coats of arms date back to the middle ages. The fact that you have to look back as far as the eleventh and twelfth centuries may make it more difficult for you to find accurate information about which family member you were descended from.


Use the right genealogical and heraldic resources
There are many different genealogical and heraldic resources that you can use to find the information you are looking for. For example, contacting a College of Arms can help you find out what the heraldic information for a specific family member would have been. There are different colleges of arms for different countries so you will need to find out which country your ancestor came from. You may also find that you will need to choose from several different coats of arms that are connected with your last name. This is where your genealogical research can come in handy.


The College of Arms for a specific country will also be able to tell you whether or not a coat of arms is regulated or not. A regulated coat of arms can only be used by one person instead of an unregulated coat of arms that may be used by a number of different family members. If you want to make sure that you are being as accurate as possible you need to find this out.