Our New Blog - A Big Hello from Wendy Spencer, our MD.

Welcome to the Hall of Names Blog. To introduce myself, I began Hall of Names in 2002 with my partner Peter. At the time, I was working in London in a graduate position and jacked it all in on a whim to go out and about selling Hall of Names products. People thought I was absolutely nuts start my own business with zero experience - quite possibly I was but I was determined to prove to everyone it could be done.

Aged 24 without many commitments myself and Pete essentially began living a ‘Showman’s life’. This was a great way to launch Hall of Names products and a great learning curve for me just beginning in business – especially learning that making mistakes is all part of it, such as trying to sell Coats of Arms and Surname Histories at a Surf Festival (!) being one of the many classics. Complete with trailer and motor home we went from country show, to county show, to steam rallies, rock festivals, to duck racing events and everything else in between selling Coats of Arms and Surname Histories to the masses.

Fast forward nearly 10 years (yikes) - we now live in Somerset and have two children, Amber 5 and Toby 3 and a few chickens. Hall of Names has gone from strength to strength. Our products are now sold in castles, abbeys, gift shops and all sorts of tourist locations from Cornwall to the Scottish Highlands, with our Coat of Arms and Surname History still being our most popular product with over 150,000 of them sold last year alone! Some of our licensees still attend shows that we used to trade at – when you see them around and about, do pop up and say hello, we are all a friendly bunch!

My main day to day role now is to oversee the company - managing our staff and our licensees, attending and planning for trade shows, implementing marketing strategy, liaising with our business clients, training their staff, dealing with our customers and much more. I am in the very lucky position to say ‘I love my job’!

So, on to the blog. Throughout the years, speaking to thousands of customers the same questions come up time and time again…. Where did surnames come from? What is a Coat of Arms? What is a Family Crest? What do the colours/animals/symbols on a Coat of Arms mean? Why did my ancestors go to Ireland/Australia/America? being just a few of them. I am going to be addressing these questions in what I hope will be an informative and fun way. I’ll also be updating you on the business front, the shows we are attending, and providing information about what’s going on with Ancestry and programmes such as Who Do You Think You Are. Just give me a shout if you’d like me to address anything in particular and do feel free to comment on any of the posts or add any information I miss. Happy reading! Wendy Spencer