My family came from Spain we have a crest but how can I find it?

Question

Could you happen to send me a site or some place where you can help me? Thanks in advanced!

Answer 1

Most of the websites are just peddlers, like House of Names,  who sell coats of arms based on a surname.  That is not valid. There might have been, for instance, 15 different men with your surname, not all necessarily related, that were each granted their own coat of arms, all different.  The websites that sell those tacky dinky little walnut plaques won't have all 15.  They don't need to in order to sell to gullible people.  The only time they will have more than one is if persons of the same surname from more than one national origin were granted a coat of arms. They'll have one of each when in fact there might have been 5 of each.

See the link below, it is from the British College of Arms(they grant coats of arms). Even though the coat of arms you are asking about would be Spanish, if you send them your family tree, they might be able to locate yours, if you are entitled to one.  I don't know what the cost would be, but if they find one you are entitled to you can rest assured it is validly yours.  You cannot rest assured that what House of Names of any of the other merchants of deceit sell would be validly yours. Don't trust the websites that sell them. They just want to make money and could care less if what they sell to a person has anything to do with that person or someone to whom they are related.

Also see the link from the most prestigious genealogical organization in the U.S., The National Genealogical Society.  

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

http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comconsumerp...

If this is a school project, go ahead and print off any that you find, but also print off the 2 links I am furnish you and give them to your teacher.  

When you go into someone's home and you see one of those walnut plaques on someone's wall, what you are seeing is a coat of arms that was granted to someone with the same surname as theirs and might not even be related. The polite thing to do is not to laugh at something like that in someone's home.  However, anybody that knows anything about genealogy and heraldry will probably laugh to themselves.

REal coats of arms are not stuck on a plaque with a name underneath.

Answer 2

I’m sorry to tell you this, but there is no such thing as a family crest.  It is just a part of the Coat of Arms.  Coat of Arms were granted to INDIVIDUALS, not assigned to surnames. Just because someone of your last name MAY have been granted one at some point does not make it yours.  Also, it may be that several men of the same surname were granted a coat of arms....each one different.....and maybe none of the men were related to each other.  Likewise, it may be that NO ONE of your surname was ever granted one.  In order for you to be able to claim any Coat of Arms you must be able to do the following:

1. research your family tree to see if you have any ancestors that were granted a Coat of Arms.

2. If you do have an ancestor who was granted one, then you can only claim it IF the following is true: The person who rightfully can claim a Coat of Arms that was granted to their ancestor is a male descendant who is the first born son, of the first born son, of the first born son, of the first born son, etc., all the way back to the person who was originally granted the Coat of Arms. If you do not fall in that line, then you cannot claim it.  If you do fall in that line, then chances are you are already aware you have one.

To use a Coat of Arms based on your last name is meaningless.  It is about as accurate as buying a picture frame at the store that has a piece of paper in it showing an image of a child holding a flower and claiming that is actually a picture of your child.

Answer 3

Try this site:

http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp/sId./...

Answer 4

If your own family had a "crest",then  the crest was taken from their coat of arms, there is not a crest without a coat of arms. It is extremely unlikely that your family has "forgotten" it's coat of arms, so it is more likely that your personal family has never had one, not everyone with the same surname is entitled to the arms once granted to somebody with whom you share a name.

Certainly for England it is not correct to say that arms were passed only from eldest son to eldest son.

In the first instance the grant of arms was made to a male head of a family, and was passed equally to each of his sons, each one of his sons added their own marks of cadency to those arms. The eldest son added a label – a horizontal strip with three pendant drops (during the lifetime of his father). The second son added a crescent,

the third son added a five pointed star, the fourth son added a martlet, the fifth son added a annulet, the sixth a fleur de lys, the seventh a rose, the eighth a cross moline

and the ninth a double quatrefoil, which were then displayed on their shields to distinguish themselves from each other and their father, the sons passed their arms, complete with their own cadences, on to their own sons, who then added a second set of cadences to distinguish themselves from each other, their father, uncles and cousins.

When a man died, his eldest son then had the right to bear his father’s arms without the differentiation marks, the eldest son’s children would then add only one set of cadency marks, instead of two, and so on down the generations, the brothers of the eldest son continued to use the arms with their own cadency marks, which were later passed to their sons in the same manner, It all got very complicated.

Daughters also inherited the right to display their father’s arms if there was no male heir, a daughter could pass her father’s arms on to her sons. Wives, widows and daughters had a courtesy right to display their husband or father’s arms, normally on a diamond lozenge.

The original achievement remained the same through the generations, enhanced by the addition of the various cadences, however, the arms of more than one family could also be included on one shield. If both the man and his wife had the right to bear arms, they could be displayed side by side, called impalement, or if mixed together to form new arms, it was called compounding. One method was quartering, where the shield was divided into quarters, then, for example, if a man had no sons, his daughter or daughters inherited his right to the coat of arms, if one such daughter married a man who also had a coat of arms, her arms could be impaled with his, or be displayed on a

small shield in the centre of her husbands arms, their sons would then seek permission of the Heralds to bear arms, with their father’s arms in two quarters and their mother’s

in the other two quarters. In time the coat of arms could include the arms of many families and became very complex.

Dating originally from before the advent of surnames, the arms were in effect a means of identification, much the same as a surname. With the establishment of surnames during the 12th. And 13th. Centuries, those families who already had the right to bear arms acquired a surname to go with their arms, and once surnames were established

new arms were granted to people who had a surname, so it is clearly argueable as to whether or not arms are attached to surnames.

Neither were they introduced by the Normans for taxation purposes. The Normans arrived in England some 100 or more years before the first heraldic arms or devices began to appear.

Heraldry in Europe developed during the 12th.and 13th. centuries (1100-1200) Heraldic arms were a personal device, possibly for military purposes, or simply a display of status or vanity, it can only be guessed at because, today, no one knows the real reason. At first, arms were displayed without authority from anyone, but gradually became controlled by the Crown, through Heralds, whereby, men who could prove their ancient use of arms by their family, were granted permission to continue displaying them. Total control finally came about in the 15th.century, when Richard III

in 1484, established what is now known as the College of Arms, who still hold the

authority to grant or withhold the use and display of arms.

You would have to prove a direct line of descent, by way of verifiable documentation and records, from the man who was originally granted the right to bear arms.

*COMPUT.

In Spain, the Spanish Heralds, the Cronista Reys de Armas,

are empowered to issue Certification of Arms, of Nobility and of Genealogy, they are the only authority for Spanish arms, you may be able to get details from them concerning your claim to arms, their address is :-

Cronista Reys de Armas, Calle de Atocha 91, Madrid, Spain.

You should try and write to them in Spanish.

Good Luck !