Coats of Arms and Family Crests

The Catudal name does not have a Coat of Arms associated with it. The reason is that in almost every case, a Coat of Arms was bestowed upon a person for some sort of achievement. Those who were awarded a Coat of Arms were generally Aristocrats and the upper class. To my knowledge, no Catudals were ever a part of the French Aristocracy, nor for that matter, a part of the French upper class in France.

A Family Crest, although sometimes displayed separately as on a ring or belt buckle, is a part of the Coat of Arms and not an entirely different animal.

If a name has a Coat of Arms associated with it, it does not mean that just because you carry that name that you can wear or use the Coat of Arms for that name. You must be able to prove that you come from the direct male line (uninterrupted) of the person to whom that Coat of Arms was bestowed. A Coat of Arms is not surname specific.

There are many online companies willing to sell you a Coat of Arms or a Family Crest with any name you wish. These are not real. They are decorative graphics only - it would be illegal to use it while claiming it to be your Coat of Arms, at least in Europe. In Canada it is not illegal but it would be considered improper to use a Coat of Arms or a Family Crest which was not real.

Here is an excerpt from a site (http://www.fleurdelis.com/nofamilycrest.htm) which sells Coats of Arms and Family Crests with any name you wish; this is their disclaimer of sorts:

"The bearing of coats of arms is not regulated in most countries, including the United States, thus there has been a proliferation of "family name" companies offering histories and coats of arms for a given surname. While there is no reason we cannot enjoy the decoration of a coat of arms associated with someone centuries ago who shared our surname, we should be aware that this is all that it is -- a decoration."

Judy