Coats of Arms for United States Citizens

Most People Not Entitled to Use Heraldic Arms

Feb 15, 2009 Rosemary E. Bachelor

Heraldry in the United States rarely has legal standing, arms do not belong to a "family name" and to claim to "research" without proving the entire lineage is fraud.

Heraldry is a method of identification rooted in the Middle Ages. Knights were identified by the arms displayed on their shields or the crest on their helmets.

A coat of arms has no legal standing in the United States unless it qualifies for registration as a trade mark or being copyrighted under U. S. law.

U. S. citizens may, however, adopt and use any arms, devices, or badges of their own creation as long as they do not infringe on insignia covered by trademark and copyright laws.

Using Foreign Coats of Arms

If a U. S. citizen adopts arms, devices or badges acknowledged by the Heraldic Offices of a foreign nation as belonging to the descendants of any of their nationals, the person using those arms may be guilty of violating laws of that country and subject to its penalties.

Arms do not belong to a surname. They belong to individuals who are acknowledged as their owner, or who receive a grant for them from a foreign government.

Entitlement Rules for Men

Under the laws of most countries other than the United States the rules for men are generally these:

Unbroken male line descendants of any person who has a legally recognized right to bear heraldic arms may use their progenitor’s arms, inheriting them in the same manner as they inherit anything else.
If a male line descendant changes his name, he may still bear his father’s arms even though he now has a different surname. There is no such thing as “arms of your family name.”
In some cases, in order to bear ancestral arms, male descent must be via the oldest son of the oldest son, down through the generations.

Entitlement Rules for Women

Use of arms by women is a bit more complicated.

Daughters have the right to use their father’s coat armour as long as they remain unmarried, or they may combine their arms with those of their husband in prescribed ways.
If a husband has no arms, the woman may continue to use paternal arms for life, but this right is not inherited by their children.
If someone with the right to bear arms has only daughters, then under British law the daughters are heraldic heiresses and their children may quarter the arms of their mother with those of their father. If their father has no arms, the right to use of those of their mother is lost, unless the arms are re-granted to them as heirs of their maternal grandfather.

Buying Coats of Arms

If you have no ancestor entitled to bear arms, then the only place to buy a legitimate coat of arms, crest or other heraldic insignia, under English law, is the College of Arms, which has its own list of rules.

No “heraldry institute” or “heraldic artist” can look up a surname and provide the correct arms for a client without first proving the client’s descent from the distant forebear with a right to those arms. This means legally acceptable proof for every generation. That research constitutes fraud if the entire lineage is not proven generation by generation.

Several organizations in the United States seek to register and codify the use of arms. These organizations operate on a voluntary basis. Their intentions may be good, but their work has no legal standing and they are unable to enforce the registration or uniform use of coats of arms.

SOURCE: A public-service bulletin from the Board for Certification of Genealogists, as published in the Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society Quarterly (Vol. 23, No. 1, 1996).

The copyright of the article Coats of Arms for United States Citizens in Genealogy is owned by Rosemary E. Bachelor. Permission to republish Coats of Arms for United States Citizens in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.