Code of Arms/Crest & history for Ingrao?

Question

I have been on google searching sites that claim that carry "millions" of surnames. Only to find the last name Ingrao is not included. I'm looking for a family crest/code of arms & surname history for a gift. So I do not know the origin tho I know he is Sicilian.

Any help would be appreciated!

& Yes, that is the correct spelling, I've had sites trying to inform me that I was searching "Nigro" Or other last names....

Answer 1

The name Ingrao is really famous, even if quite rare, in Italy.

It is not a noble family name, so I suppose that any proposal you receive of coat of Arms is just a little fantasy of someone willing to sell something

Meanwhile, noble or not, coat of arms or not  the name is ancient and important:

It is actually the  family name of the most famous living leftist politician (former communist) Mr Pietro Ingrao.

He  is loved and respected by all different parties, in Italy,  being famous for his unquestionable honesty an open mindedness.

He was an important member of Anti fascist resistance, and he is a respected intellectual .

Was Member of Parliament (from 1948 to 1994) and a speaker of Italian Parliament in the seventies  . More on : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Ingr...

He wrote  many books and an auto biography (Title "volevo la luna" "I wanted the moon").

His daughter, Chiara Ingrao was also a minister  (for women equality or for  culture, I do not remember). She is a good writer too

About the origins, the name is typical of Sicily, and specifically of the western side of Sicily and Ragusa Town.

In Ragusa there are records of a family of Leonardo Ingrao  Master of Constructions in the early 1500.

There is also a famous Francesco Calogero Ingrao, a fine intellectual, who fought for Sicily freedom and was killed by the  Piedmont army in 1865.

A fiction book based on the history of his life has just been published (in Italian only)

The origin of the name came from the Norman name Ingrand (see Normans at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normans).

Normans, originally Vikings landed at first in the current region of France called Normandy, later moved South to Italy and  occupied and ruled Sicily from around year 1060 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conq... .

In the following centuries completely merged with the local population (that is why you still find many blond blue eyed Sicilians today).

Thus  a search about the origins and etymology should be the same of a search on the family names Ingrand, Ingran and Ingram, that share most probably the same origin

Answer 2

There is really no such thing as a family crest.  A crest is part of a coat of arms. Coats of arms were and are granted to an individual man and are passed down through the direct legitimate male line of descent.  Only the oldest son inherits his father's upon his death. The other sons will be entitled to one similar to their father''s  with some differences.

So when you look at the websites of the peddlers sellings coats of armrs (misnomer family crest), you frequently are seeing a valid coat of arms. What isn't valid is they are presented like they belong to everyone with a particular surname and they don't.  Oh, they frequently will have a disclaimer in fine print.

Actually, in many cases, there was more than one man with the same surname, not all necessarily related, that were each  granted  their own coat of arms, all different.  No one peddler that sells them on the internet, at shopping malls, in airports, in magazines or solicit by mail will have all of them. They don't need to in order to sell to the gullible. The only time they will have more than one is if more than one man with the same surname from different national origins were granted one.  Then they will have one of each and there might have been more.

Wendy gave you a great link.  I am going to provide with with a link regarding Italian heraldry and another link from the most prestigious genealogical organization in the U.S., the National Genealogical Society.  I am going to have to submit this more than once due to computer problems.

Answer 3

http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Faq.ht...

While it is for the UK, this gives you some idea of the appropriate use (or not using) coats of arms.  There are many sites that will tell you otherwise.. notice that they are there to sell something, so that should give you a clue as to how valid they are (not).

As for origin of a name.. your friend's ancestor (of that name), could be from Sicily. One thing to be very cautious of, is to assume that any name is the equivalent of their actual ancestry.  Something else to bear in mind, that ANY name that someone has now, is easily possible to be other than the original.  This is even more true, if you are talking about European immigrants to the US.  

My personal advice is always to be informed of realities, when you are planning to spend your money.  You are free to spend it as you like, but heads up to the fact that they are rip offs.