Letters in family crests

When it comes to the design of a family coat of arms, we are unfortunately unable to implement some of the customer’s requests while observing the heraldic rules. In the following we would like to address the question of letters in family crests.

Less is more

When designing coats of arms, we basically follow the classic rules of heraldry, which strive for clarity, clarity and stylization – less is more in heraldry. Coats of arms are pictorial identification marks for people or corporations, which are created according to certain design rules. However, letters do not meet the criterion of pictorial quality. Several letters and words ultimately lead to confusion. Family coats of arms should work through symbols, figures and colors, not through letters or text.

Integration Options

It should be noted that coats of arms date from a time when the ability to read and write was not very widespread. If you refer to the classic design rules of heraldry, letters have no place in serious heraldry. Although there are historical examples, coats of arms with regular letters and numbers are considered unheraldic and frowned upon.

However, since the initial of a family name has always had a prominent meaning in the fine arts – just think of the monogram culture – an allusion to it is definitely desirable. Heraldry has the option of reproducing letters in the form of pieces of herald or common figures and thus remains entirely in its actual formal language. This practice stands in the long tradition, according to which the processing of so-called speaking elements – here based on the family name – is considered particularly desirable in heraldry. The coat of arms and family name are defined as an inseparable unit.