Heraldry

Coat of arms

Also written or known as Arms and Coats of arms

A design of colours and symbols on a shield, used to identify a person or family.

Arms began as a way to identify knights in armour in the 12th century. In England they are granted to individuals and passed down to their descendants, so there is no single coat of arms for everyone with a surname. SurnameDB's histories describe arms recorded for particular bearers of a name.