How do you know what your family crest is? I am not familiar with the process.?

Question:

How do you know what your family crest is? I am not familiar with the process.?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Not everyone has a family crest. They were passed from father to son. Now in the U. S. we have no laws re heraldry. You are free to display one if you wish.

Just because one has your family name doesn't mean it has anything at all to do with your family.
People with the same surname are not necessarily related. There was a time when people did not have surnames, Sam who lived on a Hill became Sam Hll and his children also took the name Hill. Tom, no relation to Sam, also lived on a hill and his children took the name Hill.
Some are occupation names. John the Blacksmith became John Smith. There are Barbers, Clark(clerk), Carpenter. Some people took the name of the town they were from or if they lived close to a castle they took the name of that castle.

Now the Anglo Saxon people of the American South, including people of humble means, do have coats of arms in their family trees, frequently more than one. However, that does not mean they have a right to display them. Now some in the old South do have the ones they brought over from England passed from father to son stuck in their closets or attics. Afterall they can't buy groceries with them. I live in Texas and I remember as a kid visting with a neighbor family.
The father and the children were using theirs for a dart board.

There are a lot of companies in the U. S. that peddle coats of arms. They are out to make money. They have books showing them for different surnames and they will send you one with your surname.

I read back in the 70s that the name Lewis for instance has almost 200 coats of arms.

Now a crest was added to the coats of arms. I believe it was during the Elizabethan period all coats of arms that were issued had a crest but before then they did not necessarily have the crest. The crest was often then granted for some noble deed to the crown. However if a person has a coat of arms that do not have a crest that is usually proof of an older noble family.
Unless, of course, it was like in one case where a person found the crest was removed by the crown due to theft/