Coat of Arms & Family Crests Store
 Hedrick Coat of Arms / Hedrick Family CrestThis surname of HEDRICK was originally from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements HEIM (home) and RIC (power) meaning 'home-rule). The name was introduced into England by the Normans in the form HENRI. During the Middle Ages this name became enormously popular in England and was borne by eight kings. Continental forms of the name were equally popular, in Germany as Heinrich, France, Henri etc. In the period in which the majority of surnames were formed in England, a common vernacular form of the name was HARRY; official documents of the period normally used the Latin form HENRICUS. The name is also spelt HEINRICH, HEINZLER, HENKENS, HEINKEL, HENKELS, HEINTZ, ENRIQUEZ, ENRICA, and HENTZELER. A notable member of the name was Antonio Gomez ENRIQUEZ (1602-1662?) the Spanish playwright and poet, born in Segovia, the son of a baptized Portugese Jew. In 1636 he fled to France to escape the Inquisition, and became major duomo to Louis XIII. He wrote comedies, a mystic poem and an epic 'El Sanson Nazarena' in 1656. Later he professed the Jewish faith, and in 1660 his effigy was burned at a Seville auto-de-fe. Another notable member of the name was Ernst HEINRICH HEINKEL (1888-1958) the German aircraft engineer, born in Grunbach. He founded in 1922 the HEINKEL-FLUGZEUGWERKE at Warnemunde, making at first sea-planes, and later bombers and fighters which achieved fame in World War II. He built the first jet plane, the HE-178 in 1939 and also the first rocket powered aircraft, the HE-176. The first hereditary surnames on German soil are found in the second half of the 12th century, slightly later than in England and France. However, it was not until the 16th century that they became stabilized. The practice of adopting hereditary surnames began in the southern areas of Germany, and gradually spread northwards during the Middle Ages. The lion depicted in the arms is the noblest of all wild beasts which is made to be the emblem of strength and valour, and is on that account the most frequently borne in Coat-Armour. |
