Author: Jo Laver
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Our shield artist
We would love you to meet our shield artist, David Barker. He has been a specialist in heraldic art for well over four decades! His wealth of expertise comes from years of practice. If you have ever wondered how we create our heraldic shields, this article explains how we first met our shield artist David. Plus,…
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American with family roots in the UK?
Do you have American family roots in the UK? Delving into your family tree can be an amazing adventure and it is fascinating to discover your American roots. Moving around the world was just as common in the time of your ancestors as it is today. Between 1836 and 1914 millions of Europeans migrated to…
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Tips From a Professional Genealogist
Tips From a Professional Genealogist Use tips from a professional genealogist to help with your family research. Here at Hall of Names, we specialise in coats of arms and surname histories. We love to hear our customers’ stories about their families and are often asked for advice on how to go about tracing an individual…
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How To Trace Your Welsh Ancestors
Trace your Welsh Ancestors with our handy guide. Our friends at Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine have kindly provided the following article, with great tips and links. As the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? series traced the family tree of Welsh-born comedian Greg Davies, Jonathan Scott reveals six fantastic websites to aid your…
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Tracing Your Irish Roots
Tracing your Irish roots can be a fulfilling and rewarding task. At Hall of Names, we have many visitors to our website, hoping to discover more about their Celtic roots and the meaning and history of their Irish name. Our database has over a million surname histories, including many thousands of Irish surnames and ‘sept…
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Colours in Coats of Arms and Heraldry
Colours in coats of arms and heraldry play an important role. If you purchase surname history print from us you will enjoy seeing the earliest coat of arms associated with a bearer of your name as well as the history. But did you know that each colour has a deeper meaning and significance? It’s important to…
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Artistic Interpretation In Heraldry and Coats of Arms
Artistic interpretation in heraldry Artistic interpretation in heraldry and coats of arms presents a formidable challenge. The heraldic artist enjoys considerable freedom within certain limits, but there are objects within a coat of arms that you cannot alter. For example, the crest, the colors on the coat of arms, and the symmetry may not…
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Does My Family Name Have A Coat of Arms?
Does my family surname have its own specific coat of arms? We are often asked by customers if they have their own family coat of arms. They also ask if our surname histories relate to their own specific branch of the family name. It helps us to understand the basics of how we create heraldry…
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The Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings is an event that is firmly etched into the history of the British Isles, and the year of 1066 is arguably the best known in English history. This massively significant battle was to result in the death of King Harold. The war period itself is known as the Norman Conquest. Here…
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Autumn Symbolism In Coats of Arms and Heraldry
The rich imagery of Autumn symbolism features on many coats of arms, and heraldic symbols often include animals and plants that we associate with Autumn, ‘the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ Here are some of the more commonly-found symbolic images that you can often find on coats of arms. Apples The drinking ritual of ‘wassailing’…