Coat of Arms

[French King]

I am trying to find my coat of arms,a number of years ago I had it and would like another copy FREE!!!It has the fleur-de-llys and two marlin birds either side and is for the name STROUGHAIR anyone out there help??

[stanmapstone]

Welcome to RootsChat.
There is no such thing as a coat of arms for a surname. See http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Faq.htm
See also http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,254381.0.html

Stan

[French King]

Thanks for that Stan,the reason I ask is I actually acquired this coat of arms a very long time ago through my Grandmother,she had a friend who worked in ,names house in London,this lady contacted her as her own husband had Stroughair as a middle name,and for my Grandmothers info sent us the coat of arms.I had an explanation of the name along with this and its derivatives,unfortunately I have sincemislaid this.With our name being so unusual I have researched it and found a lot in North Allerton and basically Yorkshire,I found my Grandfathers details on an Irish cencus giving his mothers name who must have returned  to North Allerton and is buried there,I am in contact with all the Stroughairs in UK and Australia and I share anything I know with them,so any help you can give Stan would be great.Thanks again
French King 

[stanmapstone]

This is the distribution of the 27 people named Stroughair in the 1881 Census. (Surname Atlas, Archer Software)
Stan

[stanmapstone]

a friend who worked in ,names house in London,

Do you mean "House of Names"? There are decorative arms-peddling firms who claim to supply "coats of arms" for surnames and the meaning of the surnames, they also used to have stalls at fairs etc. However what they supply should be taken with care. The only place you can get a reliable record is from The College of Arms, and they charge quite a sum to do any research. There is no entry for Stroughair in the "Encyclopaedia of Heraldry or general Armory of England, Scotland and Ireland" by John Burke, http://www.rootschat.com/links/0cwi/


Stan

[davidbappleton]

To supplement what Stan said, places like the House of Names go through Burke's General Armory and Rietstap's Armorial Général (or a database of names and arms they purchased from a wholesaler that include these books) and pull out, sometimes seemingly at random, a coat of arms once borne by someone of that surname.  When that exact surname does not appear in their database, they take the arms of someone whose surname sounds similar.  For example, there is no "Stroughair" in Burke's, but there are two "Strother", one bearing Gules on a bend argent three eagles displayed azure (a red shield with a white diagonal stripe on which are three blue eagles) and the other Azure fretty argent on a bend nebuly or three eagles displayed gules (a blue shield with several white crossed diagonal stripes.  on a wider gold/yellow diagonal stripe whose sides are very wavy, three red eagles.  Do either of these sound like the coat of arms that you had from your grandmother?

David

[stanmapstone]

For example, there is no "Stroughair" in Burke's, but there are two "Strother",

I wonder if Stroughair could be a variation of Strother, or vice versa?

Stan

[davidbappleton]

For example, there is no "Stroughair" in Burke's, but there are two "Strother",

I wonder if Stroughair could be a variation of Strother, or vice versa?

While that's certainly a possibility, it really doesn't affect one way or the other the process these "bucket shop heralds" use.  I am aware of one confirmed instance (and this back in the 18th Century, so this sort of bait and switch is really nothing new) of a person by the surname of Scolly was sold as his own the arms of Scholar, and the two names are certainly not variations of each other.

David

[French King]

Thanks for all your advice Stan and David,the story goes the lady worked for this company who charge a fortune,and it was only because her own husband had this name that my Gran had this info.The coat of arms had two marlins on it with the fleur de llys and this is all I remember.The name variations included strothers,stroud,struthers and something else.
Paul