“The proportion of families with their own coat of arms varies from canton to canton, but it’s always significant. For example, 80-90% of families from canton Fribourg have their own coat of arms,” explains Heribert Bielmann, president of the Institut fribourgeois d’héraldique et de généalogie External link . Heraldry originated in the Middle Ages, when coats of arms had become necessary “as a distinctive sign for knights, who had become unrecognisable under their armour”, notes the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland .
But over the centuries the practice spread to other strata of society, and even to commoners. For a long time, having a coat of arms was a way for individuals or groups to demonstrate their importance or autonomy. This was particularly true of patrician families, wealthy farming or middle-class families, or members of guilds.
“Having a coat of arms was a way of showing that you were somebody,” Bielmann says. “But it was mainly in the 20th century that heraldry became a fashionable phenomenon that spread far and wide,” he continues. “In the middle of the century, for example, you could still see heraldic artists offering their services at jumble sales.
And people willingly agreed to create their own coats of arms, because it was fashionable, and they felt it was important for their sense of family identity.” Family coats of arms can be registered with armorials. In most cases, these are kept by the archives of the various cantons,.
