Hi all. I am wanting to get a family coat of arms tattooed on myself but have a few questions on what people think. My problem is I have the coat of arms from my mothers side of my family but have never been able to find or even know if one exists on my father’s side. What does everyone think about a person having a coat of arms tattooed on themselves even though it isn’t their “surname”.
Also the coat of arms i have has some different colors in it but i feel like i want to just do it a black/grey type of a tattoo. Do you think this will take away from the “true look” or diminish it in anyway from it original meaning as I know color and shapes have different meanings in Heraldry. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks
It’s very unlikely that this coat of arms is your family’s or that you would be able to legitimately display it.
If it’s not done in its proper tinctures, it’s not a coat of arms.
If you like the idea, just make one up and call it yours. Nobody can tell you you can’t. You can even make it black and gray, though again… then it wouldn’t look like a coat of arms.
Would anyone but you know or care what it is and what it signifies anyway?
There’s a whole industry built on the false idea that coats of arms have been issued to anyone with a given surname. Coats of arms are issued to individuals. You would know if you had been issued one or had inherited one. The inheritance would have to be officially confirmed.
If you research your mom’s coat of arms, you can find out who it is (or was) assigned to.
The Society for Creative Anachronism also keeps a roll of arms, but only for members.
[Moderating]
Asking for opinions belongs in IMHO, not GQ. Moving.
[Not moderating]
If families don’t have coats of arms, then what are those things that purport to be family coats of arms?
Hoaxes. Only one person at a time may hold arms. Even brothers whose father held the arms must differentiate them with small heraldic devices called “differences”.
In the UK, passing off somebody else’s arms as yours is treated the same as a copyright violation.
Whenever I catch myself worrying about what other people think I ask myself: Are they right to think this?
If they aren’t, then why should I care about other people’s beliefs?
If they are, then it’s actually what I myself am thinking, and that is more of a problem.
What I am getting at that you need to ask yourself whether you care that it is your mother’s surname (I say, smash the patriarchy, but that’s just me �� ) and that the colours are “wrong” or whether the symbolic value and aesthetics work fine for you.
A coat of arms belongs to an individual, not to a family, and certainly not to a family name. The rightful owner of the arms–there’s only one heir–might not even have the same family name.
There are various traditional systems for representing heraldic tinctures in monochrome. Although whether they would work as tattoos is another matter.
But, as others have said, you almost certainly don’t have a coat of arms.
Hey, maybe you could get one of your own!
“There are no fixed criteria of eligibility for a grant of arms, but such things as awards or honours from the Crown, civil or military commissions, university degrees, professional qualifications, public and charitable services, and eminence or good standing in national or local life, are taken into account.”
I can think of a lot more fun things to do with £6,000 though.
“As of 1 January 2019 the fees payable upon a personal grant of arms and crest are £6,400”
A con to get you to buy something.
Whether or not you have any right to arms depends on your direct ancestry. It has nothing to do with your name.
Meh. Treat it as a piece of artwork. Have your tattoo artist do some preliminary sketches in color and in black&grey so you can take the time to look at each and make a decision. If you get the tattoo done and anyone asks its significance, feel free to have a story ready to tell, even if it is complete fiction.
I have a rather complicated piece that features a rubber duckie, a ships anchor, balloons, and stars. Above it is the word “refuse”, which can be ree-fuze or ref-use. When people ask what the word signifies, I correct them and say it’s the other pronounciation. When they ask what that means, I get choked up and tell them it is too soon. The tattoo’s true meaning is that it has none, but I’ll never share that detail.
On the other hand… If someone lies and says that a particular emblem represents a particular family, and everyone believes them, and everyone interprets that emblem as meaning that family… well, is it actually a lie any more?
I think that depends entirely on how much weight you give to the authority of the College of Arms.
I’ve got this tattooed on my arm, which is (if I’m understanding my heraldic terms correctly) the family crest from my mother’s side of the family. I don’t have the crest from my father’s side of the family, because in all the renditions of it I could find, the lion looked stupid.
Never had an issue with only having one side of the family represented as a tat.
But shouldn’t you have a Heterodyne trilobite crest?
No joke, I’ve seriously considered it.
Here are two videos you might find of interest: the Medieval Standard and the Medieval Coat of Arms.
In Scotland, you can be prosecuted and fined for using another person (or entity’s) coat of arms; protection of armorial bearings is part of the remit of Lyon Court and its head, the Lord Lyon King of Arms. Unlike the English College of Arms, the Lyon Court is part of the Scottish legal system, and misuse of armorial bearings is a crime, akin to trademark violation.
Legally, crests are a little bit different. Plain crests - the bits inside the belt and buckle - are parts of coats-of-arms, and may only be used by the owner of the arms. However, clan chiefs and heads of noble families in the 17th century would adorn their clansmen and supporters with their crests worn around the neck on a belt. This evolved into the crest-within-belt-and-buckle shown in your post. The convention is that anyone who bears the surname of a Scottish clan (or a recognized sept) is considered a member of that clan and may wear the crest within buckle of its chief.
So if a person gets some random coat of arms cuz it looks cool and they go to Scotland & it turns out to belong to someone else … what then?
(Flay the skin off?)