Bogus commercial heraldry....

[macwilkin]

I can't credit bucket shops with much of anything, but I will say that while the "one man, one coat" idea is pretty firmly held in Scotland, things are a bit looser in England, where it's not uncommon for a man's arms to be borne by all his heirs. So, in that sense, England, at least, has the concept of "family" arms.

Well...not quite. Arms which are inherited are usually differenced, i.e. with certain symbols called labels that denote the first, second, third, etc. son known as cadency. Each son traditionally has its own label; for example, in English arms, the second son's arms bears a crescent moon, the sixth a fleur-de-lis, etc. So it's not quite the same as the bogus concept of family arms, but I can see where you draw the connection. Scottish heraldry also has a system of Cadency; our own Sketraw is a perfect example:

http://www.clan-duncan.co.uk/duncan-arms.html

In English heraldry, the cadency labels are used; all you have to do is look at Prince William and Harry's arms to see an example of this system.

Regards,

Todd