Create Your Own Coat of Arms

[CastleLyons]

Anyone interested in your family's coat of arms? This is something I do as a hobby...create coats of arms for my friends. I've started posting instructions on how to make your own on my blog. Check it out!

castlelyons7.blogspot.com/

I'm also willing to help any of you create your own, or find your family's proper coat of arms, if that's something you're interested in. I don't do this as a business, so any help I give you is free of charge. It's just something fun for me to do. Check out my blog and then contact me if you like.

[torainfor]

Alas! I not only have one, I have two.

www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.c/qx/fitzgerald-coat-arms.htm

Yes, that's a monkey on an Irish crest. Seems way back when the family had a pet monkey that woke everyone, saving them from a fire.

www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.c/qx/tankersley-coat-arms.htm

That's one variation of the other. I've been told the flowers were from England and used by those who fought in the Crusades to remember home. Don't know if having fought in the Crusades is something to be proud of, but there you go. But then, he was dad's step-dad.

[CastleLyons]

The emblems on the second one aren't flowers...they're escallops (sea shells). These are symbols of a pilgrim and also of the apostle James. If you've been told something about flowers, it's possible the site has made an error (less likely), or somewhere along the line your family changed it (more likely).

So you're a Fitzgerald-Tankersley, huh? Or vice versa. That's interesting about the monkey. My daugher-in-law's family has three fish on their coat of arms, which she didn't really like until I told her that fish symbolize generosity.

I also had two "Lyons" coats to choose from. One has a blue lion rampant on a silver field. On deeper research, I learned that that one is more associated with the name Lyon than Lyons, and it originates in Scotland. The one I choose to use is more associated with the name Lyons, and it originates from Ireland, which is my husband's family's land of origin. Technically, I could have chosen either one. There's some evidence that both families originated from the same family, but one branch broke off after a move from Scotland to Ireland.

[CastleLyons]

Oh, I forgot to mention...I wouldn't just help you FIND your coat of arms...I'd actually MAKE it for you and send it to you in a format of your choice (such as jpg).

Just thought I should make myself clear. Making the thing is the fun part, after all. (For me.)

[torainfor]

I wonder if they got the Tankersley crest wrong. I'd been told before...nope. I wasn't told it had flowers. It had birds. I think. Huh.

Actually, I'm a Fitzgerald-Onslow-Blanton-Clauson.

[CastleLyons]

Gesundheit!

[torainfor]

Vielen dank!

[Spokane Flyboy]

I still like this thing: www.inkwellideas.com/heraldry/index.php?title=Design_Software

[sowelblack]

Oct 19, 2008 1:57:25 GMT -5 Spokane Flyboy said:

I still like this thing: www.inkwellideas.com/heraldry/index.php?title=Design_Software

Thanks for linking to my software! I hope you find it useful.

To the original poster's point however, if you have an artist do your arms they can be richer due to the artist's talent. Also, the software is still "alpha" quality so I'm fixing bugs all the time and adding new features. To make it fully complete I need to add borders, add ornamentation lines, add a few divisions, make the ordinary choices richer, and add more animal/symbol charges. Right now it has about 100 creatures/symbols built in and I'm trying to add to that every week, but again an artist will be able to create any charge. Hopefully in a few months I'll have the charges used by 98% of people, but I'm not there yet.

But the software should give you something nice for a minimum amount of work, and if you like the result you can always save it and send it to an artist so they know roughly what you want. (Especially if you don't know Blazon, the language/terminology of Heraldry.) And again, in time it should let you create almost any coat of arms design you would want.

[CastleLyons]

Check out this coat of arms I designed for Rwley. I made it into a bookplate.

[CastleLyons]

Oh, and here's my own personal one.

If any of you would like me to make one for you, just PM me or visit my blog and leave a comment.
castlelyons7.blogspot.com/