Coat of Arms & Family Crests Store
  Greek Coat of Arms / Greek Family CrestThe associated coat of arms for the name GREEK are recorded in Sir Bernard Burkes General Armory. Ulster King of Arms in 1884. Granted to Thomas GREEKE, Baron of the Exchequer in 1576. Surnames as we know them today were first assumed in Europe from the 11th to the 15th Century. The employment in the use of a second name was a custom that was first introduced from the Normans. They themselves had not long before adopted them. It became, in course of time, a mark of gentler blood, and it was deemed a disgrace for gentlemen to have but one single name, as the meaner sort had. At first the coat of arms was a practical matter which served a function on the battlefield and in tournaments. With his helmet covering his face, and armour encasing the knight from head to foot, the only means of identification for his followers, was the insignia painted on his shield and embroidered on his surcoat, the flowing and draped garment worn over the armour. This surname of GREEK is a name applied to one who came from Ancient Greece, the first Greek civilization known as Mycenaean, which owed much to the Minoan civilization of Crete, and may have been produced by the intermarriage of Greek-speaking invaders with the original inhabitants. From the 14th century BC a new wave of invasions began. Most of the Greek cities passed from monarchy to the rule of a landowning or merchant oligarchy and thence to democracy. The three greatest names of early Greek literature are those of Homer, reputed author of the epic 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey'. Hesdiod, whose 'Works and Days' deals with agricultural life; and the lyric poet Pindae. Over the centuries, most people in Europe have accepted their surname as a fact of life, as irrevocable as an act of God. However much the individual may have liked or disliked the surname, they were stuck with it, and people rarely changed them by personal choice. A more common form of variation was in fact involuntary, when an official change was made, in other words, a clerical error. |
Orders over $90 qualify for Free Shipping within the U.S. |
