What is my family/clan coat of arms?
In Scotland all arms and crests are personal property – i.e. the right to wear a coat of arms and use it (for example on stationery, building ornamentation, flags etc) belongs only to the person or corporate body which matriculated it at the Lyon Court. There is no such thing as a ‘family’ coat of arms or crest. An heir can use the matriculated arms without re-recording them in their own name although it is suggested that title to the arms be made up every third generation or thereby. However, it is not unknown for people to seek re-matriculation of arms which were recorded centuries ago. Younger members of the family bearing the same surname can record the arms with minor differences.
Odd though it may seem, if you use the arms of someone else in Scotland then you are usurping arms, and if you make up your own arms, then you are using bogus arms. In both cases you are committing an offence. In the first instance a possible offence would be investigated by the Procurator Fiscal to Lyon Court, an independently appointed official, and if it was thought there was an offence he could seek to bring the offence to the notice of Lyon Court. This is a very rare occurrence as it is usual that when the potential offence is pointed out the individual or organisation seeks to put matters right.
If a person, or a shop or some other commercial enterprise offers to sell you “your coat of arms” or “your family’s coat of arms” you will probably get a cheaply produced version of the arms of a clan chief or of someone with your surname who has matriculated arms.
The position regarding clan heraldry is more complicated. The origins and extent of the clan system are fiercely debated by historians and research has shown that the ‘clan’ of a Highland chief or landowner did not equate with everyone in Scotland with the same surname. What most people regard as the clan system (the elaborate organisation by surname of tartans, mottoes, and heraldic accoutrements) was largely a 19th century phenomenon. Those who profess allegiance to a chief and wish to demonstrate their association with a clan may wear the crest of the chief within a strap and buckle bearing the chief’s motto (but not the full coat of arms) as a badge but it should not be used on personal items such as stationery, cutlery or signet rings.