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Posted by: Praetorian Aug 11 2008, 06:34 PM

My last name is Ahrberg, and it descends from Sweden. I have been searching to see if my family name has a coat of arms attached to it. Everywhere I looked, I couldn't find any information. I came across a heraldry website the other day www.4crests.com who claimed to have a coat of arms for the name Ahrberg. Here is what they sent me. I have been warned though that some websites will make one up that looks generic from a region that your name is from and claim it to by your name. Has anyone have any information about this kind of thing? If so, do you know where I can find out more info about the coat of arms?

Thanks!

Ben

Posted by: fkalich Aug 11 2008, 06:46 PM

Don't know about yours, but here is mine. It represents the traditional occupation of my ancestors while in Europe, and the motivation for immigration to the United States.

Posted by: Eat-Sleep-andJam Aug 11 2008, 06:52 PM

Your not fooling anyone !

We also know you stole 8 cats !

Come out of hiding !

Posted by: fkalich Aug 11 2008, 06:58 PM

that is just the way it is. Surnames were not like they are today. Often one would take the name of the region they came from, or perhaps occupation. But in all honesty, the odds that your ancestors were anything but peasants or common laborers is very low.

If they really had a coat of arms, they probably had land. Nobody left land. The poorest of the poor did not immigrate here, they had enough for a boat ticket. But not a lot of us in the US that will find anything to write home about regarding our ancestors, unless you think being great at growing potatoes, fixing wagon wheels, or slopping pigs is something great.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Aug 11 2008, 06:58 PM

That's very interesting. Unfortunately this is the first time I hear about this stuff

Posted by: Praetorian Aug 11 2008, 07:02 PM

I realize that...not claiming to be royalty here! My family came over fairly recently, a little over 100 years ago so I was curious if there was anything there in the far past.

Posted by: fkalich Aug 11 2008, 07:08 PM

I actually stole one, that was being denied basic care. Although the humane society told me that by state law that fact legally transferred ownership to me. I like your system in New York, where they take them away in hand cuffs for animal abuse.

Posted by: Fsgdjv Aug 11 2008, 07:13 PM

After a quick search on www.svenskadel.nu, I can see that there is no swedish family crest like that. Sorry to dissapoint you.

Posted by: Praetorian Aug 11 2008, 07:14 PM

I was afraid of that. Thanks for the link!

I should also state that the A should have that umlat small circle over it

Posted by: Fsgdjv Aug 11 2008, 07:21 PM

I tried Åhrberg aswell, but still nothing

Posted by: TreyDeschamp Aug 11 2008, 07:21 PM

I used to be very interested in this type of stuff.

Posted by: Praetorian Aug 11 2008, 07:22 PM

Thanks for your help. Is that site a list of all Swedish coats of arms?

Posted by: Fsgdjv Aug 11 2008, 07:30 PM

Yeah, it's a site about all swedish noble familys or whatever it's called, and it's got all coat of arms on it.

Edit: And I have a friend who's noble and I've seen him use that site, so I think it's a good reliable source aswell.

Posted by: JeroenKole Aug 11 2008, 07:32 PM

It looks very fake. I´m a bit of a history buff and I love medieval political intrigues. And in all the studying I´ve come across a fairly huge amount of coats of arms. And this one looks very fake.

yellow and purple is an highly uncommon use of colours.
an shield would indicate nobility.
The castle with three towers would mark the high low nobility. (which looks very photoshopped, and very badly might I add)
I have never, ever, ever come across a crossbow on an coat of arms. why? because the crossbow only became popular in the 14th century, while all noble houses were well established by then (and the coats of arms were a lot more elaborated by then because of all the inherriting stuff.)


I can name a hundred other things to prove that it is fake. I hope you didn't have to pay for it, otherwise you are duped, big time.

Posted by: Fsgdjv Aug 11 2008, 07:45 PM

While I agree with you, there were lots of noble familys that didn't get established untill much later than the 14th century here, some even as late as in the 19th century, but otherwise yes. I don't even know why I'm nitpicking like this, but since I took the time to write this I suppose I can hit the post button aswell.

Posted by: Niko Fran Aug 11 2008, 08:10 PM

Do you have any releatives in europe, as your family imigrated in 19th century?

I cant really track my family to any specific region as my last name is Frank, so no luck there :/

Posted by: fkalich Aug 11 2008, 08:27 PM

my thought also. read a lot of history myself. basically when something presented as historical has symbols reminiscent of the 1940's Hollywood epic perspective of a period, one should be suspicious.

now think about it. if one had some coat of arms, which would have been presented by high nobility, would the family have forgotten about it? come on. People just picked names when they came here. And if it was really their name, it probably originated from the region they came from, or the town. Or occupation. It might be a noble name, but they were in all probability peasants.

I never saw any problem with that. Like Abe Lincoln, I took the first like of the Declaration of Independence literally. "We hold it sell evident that that all men are create equal". I also consider Mutt dogs the equal of pedigree dogs, if not their betters.



edit: regarding my name, it in all probability came from the name of a town. a Jewish town. Gone now. Which means my ancestor with that name in all probability converted to Catholicism at some long forgotten period. Probably he wanted a job, and they asked him if he was Catholic, and he did the sign of the Cross and said, "Jesus Mary and Joseph", and got the job. It was pretty easy to pass yourself off as a Catholic, just get the sign of the cross right, and the genuflection right, and just kind of mumble though the words. In Church just do what everybody else does, sit when they sit, kneel when they kneel. Easy as pie. A generation or two later, who knew the difference?