Heraldry

Coat of Arms of Spanish & Filipino Surnames 

Coat of Arms & Other Heraldry Products:

What is Heraldry?

Apellido: Origin, Interpretation & Symbology

Heraldry is an auxiliary science of History, evolving from the combination of Roman mores or tradition, Genealogy (The science of family tree) and posteriorly by the legal obligation of using a "second" name (apellido or surname) in order to avoid confusion when perfecting legal documents in the Middle Ages (X Century A.D.).

In its strict sense, Heraldry is the science that studies and dictates the norms for the correct interpretation of Coat of Arms. The Spanish word "Heraldry" (Heraldria) comes from "Heraldo": An official agent in charge of the registry of Nobiliary titles.

In the X Century A.D., in the kingdoms of Navarra, Leon and Castilla (Spain), the tradition was to use the patronimic: adding to a son's first name, the name of his father - Thus was born the suffix "ez" which means "of", the short form of "son of": Ex. - Juan Sanchez (Jose, son of Sancho); Jose Perez (Jose, son of Pedro). Other regions used the prefix "de", as in Pedro de Nicolas (Pedro of Nicolas, instead of "Pedro, son of Nicolas"). 

With the Medieval Guilds, profession and occupation became hereditary, passing from fathers to sons, therefore it was also common to use it as surname: Ex. - Pedro Zapatero, Juan Barbero, Miguel Arroyo, etc.

With the passage of time, the "apellido became legally hereditary, passing from sons and daughters to their own descendants. Later on, the "apellido' became hereditary and legally  obligatory.

In the XV Century, Cisneros makes the law of obligatory inscription or registry of births and deaths in the parish churches using first names plus the surnames ("apellido") and the General Civil Registry of Spain was created to regulate it.

All these new developments were brought to the Philippines by the Spanish and most Filipinos were christened with a Spanish "apellido". Each of these "apellidos" has its own origin, genealogy, history and additionally it determines de exact location in Spain where a specific "apellido" was first used.