gjones wrote:
How can I find out what Tartan would pertain to my Millers/Bruce of Wick?
Ina's onto it..!
gjones wrote:
Did Scottish Clans have Family Crests?
When clans mixed due to marriages, did each 'new' family create a Crest for themselves?
Technically there is actually no such thing as a "Family Crest" or a "Clan Crest". What you are in fact looking at when you see some of these shopping centre items are the personal crests of the clan chiefs, as borne on their personal coats of arms. The chief's crest is actually the bit on the coat of arms that sits on top of the helmet. What you are looking at with these shop trinkets, then, are some of these crests displayed in the form of a 'belt and buckle', on which the chief's motto is then inscribed. The website for the Court of the Lord Lyon states the following:
"It is correct ... to wear their Chiefs Crest encircled with a strap and buckle bearing their Chief's Motto or Slogan. The strap and buckle is the sign of the clansman, and he demonstrates his membership of his Chiefs Clan by wearing his Chiefs Crest within it."
In Sir Thomas Innes of Learney's book "Scots Heraldry" (1934 and 1956), he states however, that "it is illegal to misappropriate the crest of one's Chief to decorate one's plate, paper or rings, such being the user's property, not his chief's property!" He also states "When used other than for wear it must be accompanied by the phrase
Cirean Ceann Cinnidh, and
also if depicted on clan stationery, the additional words 'member of the clan Mac X' " (p.180).
Families don't create their own coats of arms - they, along with the crests on top of them are actually designed by the Lord Lyon. The law in Scotland is different to that in England, in that up here the only person who can use the chief's coat of arms 'undifferenced', i.e. as is, without any changes, is the chief's heir - and that's when he has inherited them! All his close relatives have to have a 'differenced' version recorded legally by the Lord Lyon if they wish to use a coat of arms, but the Lord Lyon decides how it is going to look, and there are often rules as to how they should look. Arms can also be redesigned after a marriage, in the same way, by having two sets of arms from both partners combined together. So when any of these arms are thus redesigned or 'rematriculated', one of the changes may be with the crest. The Lord Lyon website then offers the following guidance:
"A person who has registered his or her own coat of Arms and Crest, or inherited these according to the Laws of Arms in Scotland from an ancestor who had recorded them in the Lyon Register, may wear their own Crest as a badge a) either on its Wreath, Crest Coronet or Chapeau or b) as is more usual, within a plain circlet inscribed with his Motto. (He)may also choose to wear instead the Crest badge of his Chief if (he) is a clansman."
So - bottom line then...! You can show your allegiance to a clan chief sharing your surname by buying wee pins etc with the crest on it, but you'd have
much more fun and satisfaction if you can find out whether your own particular ancestors ever had their own coats of arms and crest badges of their own! It's easy to do - once you have worked out your tree, you can check names against the Public Register of Arms at the Court of the Lord Lyon, This is currently only possible at the court itself (in New Register House), but when the new Scotland's People Centre opens in late May, the index for the register is going to be available on the computers.
Hope this helps!
Chris
) 
) and Bruces,and somewhere along the way a MacFarlane married a Miller.