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So far as the United Kingdom, the Americas and the Commonwealth are concerned, there is no such thing as a family crest. Rather, a crest is part of a coat of arms or a heraldic achievement and these were and are granted in their entirety to an individual for use by him during his lifetime and thereafter to his oldest son and so on after the death of the oldest son (depending on the wording of the grant of arms). The heraldic convention is that a crest within a belt and buckle may be used by a member of a family, the belt and buckle signifying that this is not the user's own crest but that the user has a familial allegiance to the armigerous owner. The concept of a family crest was pushed in Victorian times by stationers trying to sell smart looking stationery. "Family crests" continue to be sold to the gullible by heraldic bucket shops (definition 4). Image File history File links Stop_hand. ... Crest is a heraldic term. ... A modern coat of arms is derived from the medi val practice of painting designs onto the shield and outer clothing of knights to enable them to be identified in battle, and later in tournaments. ... This a colloquial phrase with at least four definitions: Definition 1: A bucket shop in its orginal format was a shop with a counter under which was a bucket. ...
Things may be different in a few other European countries and in Japan there is an ornamental device called a kamon which, unlike a crest, can apparently be used by many members of a family. Kamon (家紋) or mon (紋) are Japanese crests. ...
Heraldry is the science and art of designing, displaying, describing and recording coats-of-arms (also referred to as armorial bearings or simply as arms). Its origins lie in the need to distinguish participants in battles or jousts and to describe the various devices they carried or painted on their... In heraldry, a crest is a component of a coat of arms. ... Kamon (家紋) or mon (紋) are Japanese crests. ...
References
A Copinger "Heraldry simplified"
"Boutell's Heraldry" Revised by J P Brooke-Little ISBN 0-7232-1120-5 / 0723211205
"The Nature of Arms" Col Gayre of Gayre and Nigg
A C Fox-Davies "The Complete Guide to Heraldry"
Charles Mackinnon of Dunakin "Observer's Book of Heraldry" Fredk Warne & Co 1966
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