Process of Receiving Arms from South Africa

[Cygnus]

hkjrb623,

I hope WVHighlander doesn't mind me responding to your question. If so, I'm sure he'll correct me or add his thoughts as well.

Coats of arms, in their original use, were carried or worn to identify an individual on the battlefield when a helmet would obscure his features. Because families were regularly involved in the same conflicts (sometimes on both sides), it wouldn't make too much sense for each family to only have one coat of arms. Their heraldry was similar enough that people could tell that they were kin, but different enough that they could be distinguished from one another in the fighting.

Despite what the folks in the heraldry shop at Disney Land (and other shops, for that matter) might say, the heraldry of the UK and Commonwealth countries is still individual, not family, in the same way it always had been. The only exception to this rule is the clansman's crest badge, which is the clan chief's crest surrounded by a strap and buckle with the motto inscribed on it. This, so far as I know, is the only traditional way, and the only legal way in Scotland, to bear a part of another person's heraldry.

If one wishes to use a coat of arms in Scotland, it must first be registered with the Lord Lyon King of Arms, who is the heraldic authority in Scotland. As I am sure you've gathered, South Africa also has a bureau of heraldry with which WVHighlander has begun the registration process, though those arms would not be legal for use in Scotland unless WVHighlander also had them registered with Lyon.

Basically, unless your father had a coat of arms granted to him, and you were his first son (or the heir to those arms), you would need to petition your own coat of arms, differenced accordingly, if you wanted to use one.

I hope that made some sense, despite being somewhat off the original topic!