Irish coat of arms

Many people believe that a crest is the same thing as an irish coat of arms, while in truth, the crest in its original meaning, is just a part of the coat of arms. The actual crest is what sits on top of a helmet in the same manner as a jay’s crest stands on top of the bird’s head. The earliest irish coat of arms which often repeated the symbols painted on the shields, where painted on metal fans. Later on however, they were more often made of other materials such as leather, and were actually sculpted. These days a crest is usually located inside a torse, which is a twisted roll of cloth. Or sometimes a crown is used instead of this torse. Some things often used on irish coat of arms are a variety of animals, mostly big cats and sometimes the wings of a bird. On some crests there are horns curving or more commonly plumes. Yet in turn, if horns are used on a family crest it may be in a combination with a various plumes. Usually family crests are mostly borne by males. Women did not compete in tournaments or wars so they did not have any helm on which to wear their family crests. Sometimes, a person entitled to use a coat of arms, used their crest as a personal badge. This was mostly common by various clan-members in Scotland. This was the starting point to what came to the faulty use of the word Irish Coat of Arms when what actually is meant is a full coat of arms. Many people believe that a family crest belongs to all people with the same family name. This however is not always the case.