Coat of Arms & Family Crests Store
  Swink Coat of Arms / Swink Family CrestThis ancient English surname of SWINK was a locational name meaning 'one who came from SWINCOE' a place in County Staffordshire. The name was originally rendered in the Old English form SWIN + SKOGR, literally meaning the dweller at the wood where swine were kept. The name was brought into England in the wake of the Norman Invasion of 1066. The earliest of the name on record appears to be SWYNESKOW (without surname) who was recorded in County Staffordshire in the year 1248. SWINNSCO (without surname) was documented in the year 1273. Surnames derived from placenames are divided into two broad categories; topographic names and habitation names. Topographic names are derived from general descriptive references to someone who lived near a physical feature such as an oak tree, a hill, a stream or a church. Habitation names are derived from pre-existing names denoting towns, villages and farmsteads. Other classes of local names include those derived from the names of rivers, individual houses with signs on them, regions and whole countries. A later instance of the name mentions Edward SWINSCOE of Yorkshire, who was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. 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. In the Middle Ages the Herald (old French herault) was an officer whose duty it was to proclaim war or peace, carry challenges to battle and messages between sovereigns; nowadays war or peace is still proclaimed by the heralds, but their chief duty as court functionaries is to superintend state ceremonies, such as coronations, installations, and to grant arms. Edward III (1327-1377) appointed two heraldic kings-at-arms for south and north, Surroy and Norroy in 1340. The English College of Heralds was incorporated by Richard III in 1483-84. |
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