Coat of Arms & Family Crests Store
Horr Coat of Arms / Horr Family CrestSurnames 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 Scottish surname of HORR, also spelt HORRIE and HOURIE, is of obscure origin. It has been suggested that this name is a corruption of the Norse name THORESON, since the Norse TH frequently becomes H in Orkney. There is, however, a place named HURRE or HORRIE in the parish of St. Andrews from which the name may have come. A Gawane HURR is recorded in the parish of St. Andrews in the year 1519, and in the Shetland rent records of 1716 a HORR accounts for land in Sandwick. Magnus HORRIE a native of Shetland, and once one of the clerks of the Exchequer in Edinburgh, became a resident of Algiers, and by 1766 was described as being 'so high in favour and confidence the the Dey of that place that he made him one of his principal secretaries'. The first people in Scotland to acquire fixed surnames were the nobles and great landowners, who called themselves, or were called by others, after the lands they possessed. Surnames originating in this way are known as territorial. Formerly lords of baronies and regalities and farmers were inclined to magnify their importance and to sign letters and documents with the names of their baronies and farms instead of their Christian names and surnames. The abuse of this style of speech and writing was carried so far that an Act was passed in the Scots parliament in 1672 forbidding the practice and declaring that it was allowed only to noblemen and bishops to subscribe by their titles. |
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