Where can you go to find out what your family crest looks like?

Question:

Where can you go to find out what your family crest looks like?

My fiance and I have been looking online to see what our family crests look like and so far that's all we've found are sites that you can order items from but they don't have any place where you can search for your crest.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Additional Details at bottom Beware of coat of arms peddlers.

There are no laws in the U. S. regarding heraldry. There are companies in the U. S. and all over the internet that will sell you one based solely on your surname. That is not valid. Coats of arms were issued to individuals who passed them on to their sons. A crest is part of the coat of arms. The family histories that come with the coat of arms might be yours and might not.

Not everyone with the same surname comes from the same root. For instance, there are about 200 with the surname Lewis and probably more for the surname Smith.
That does not mean everyone named Lewis is any way related to any of those granted one, much less be a direct descendant.

A person in the U. S. is free to display one if they wish but it is like putting up a picture of a famous person with their surname and claiming him as their direct ancestor whether they know he is or not.

Now, I don't know where your family roots are. The Anglo Saxon people of the American South, including people of humble means, have them in their family trees. That does not mean they are entitled to them. Some persons in the South have the ones their ancestor brought over from England 300-400 years ago. They don't display then. They aren't any good for buying groceries.

If you walk into someone's house and see a coat of arms hanging in their den, most likely they are not entitled to it.

We get questions like this all the time. Most genealogist have contempt for those people selling coats of arms.

However, if you wish you are free to design your own and have some one make it for you. Therefore you will not be using something that belongs to someone you don't know and you probably aren't related to.

IF you are Catholic, you might talk to your Bishop. I was listening to EWTN the other night and Catholic lay people can have a coat of arms approved by the Vatican if they meet Vatican guidelines.

Also, never trust a coat of arms peddler to do your family tree. They will do "research" and "link" you to a person that was granted a coat of arms.