A motto is the short phrase, usually on a ribbon or scroll, that accompanies a coat of arms. Some began as battle cries, a great many are puns on the bearer’s name, and others are personal or religious maxims. Mottos belong to the person who bears the arms, not to everyone with the surname: in England they can be changed at will, while in Scotland they form part of the legal grant. To find the mottos recorded for people of your name, start with Burke’s General Armory (1884), Fairbairn’s Book of Crests and Elvin’s Hand-book of Mottoes.
What a motto is
Sir Bernard Burke, introducing his General Armory of 1884, quoted the seventeenth-century herald John Guillim’s definition: a motto is “a word, saying, or sentence which gentlemen carry in a scroll under the arms, and sometimes over the crest.” It is an accessory to the arms rather than part of the shield, which is why it is not described in the blazon of the shield itself. (Our guide on how to read a coat of arms shows where each element sits.)
Many mottos are in Latin, French or English, but you will also find Scots, Irish and Welsh ones. They can be a single word, such as the Gordons’ “Bydand,” which Fairbairn translates as “Remain,” or a full sentence.
Where mottos come from
War cries and slogans
Burke thought the motto “had its origin, most probably, in the ‘cri de guerre,’ or the watchword of the camp.” Some certainly did. The FitzGeralds’ “Crom a boo” was a famous Irish war cry, and Burke notes that an Act of Parliament once outlawed it. Highland families supply other examples: Fairbairn records “Craigellachie,” translated as “The rock of alarm,” for the Grants, and “Creag dhubh chloinn Chatain,” “The black rock of Clan Chattan,” for the Macphersons. In Scotland such a war cry is called a slogan. Our guides to Scottish clan crests and Irish family crests give more of the background.
Not every expert agreed that this was the usual origin. Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, in A Complete Guide to Heraldry (1909), accepted that “an ancient war-cry has become a family motto” in some cases, but argued that most mottos could never have been battle cries.
Puns on the name
Heraldry has always loved wordplay. Fox-Davies wrote that “the majority of ancient mottoes partake rather of the nature of a pun upon the name,” and both he and Burke give the classic examples: “Cavendo tutus” for Cavendish, “Forte scutum salus ducum” for Fortescue, and “Ver non semper viret” for Vernon. The Barnard family, whose arms show a bear, used “Bear and forbear.”
Badges, maxims and family stories
Fox-Davies traced many mottos to the words that went with a medieval badge, and to sayings that families “carved on furniture, set up on a cornice, cut in stone, and embroidered upon standards and banners.” Others commemorate an event, real or legendary. Burke repeats the tradition that “Grip fast,” the motto of the Leslies, was the cry of Queen Margaret of Scotland as a Leslie ancestor pulled her from a flooded river. Stories like this are best enjoyed as family tradition rather than documented history.
When mottos became common
Mottos are younger than most people assume. Fox-Davies found that in England their use “did not become general until the eighteenth century,” and that very few earlier grants show one.
Where the motto sits
Placement depends on the country, and Fox-Davies explains the differences clearly:
| England | Scotland | Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the legal grant? | No; never mentioned in the patent of a personal grant | Yes; included in the patent | Often, though not always |
| Can the bearer change it? | Yes, freely | Not without rematriculation | A motto recorded with the arms is expected to be used |
| Usual position | Scroll below the shield, but any position is allowed | As the patent specifies, usually “in an escroll over” the crest | Varies |
One Scottish refinement: where an achievement has both a motto and a slogan, the slogan goes above the crest and the motto drops below the shield. Fox-Davies adds that the color and shape of the scroll “are governed by no heraldic laws” and, except in Scottish examples, are left to the artist.
Mottos belong to the armiger, not the surname
This is the point most often misunderstood. Burke was explicit: “Mottoes may be taken, changed, or relinquished, when and as often as the bearer thinks fit, and may be exactly the same as those of other persons.” Fox-Davies agreed that in England “mottoes are not hereditary” (see also our guide to English heraldry). Even in Scotland, where the motto is fixed by the grant, it belongs to the person granted the arms. Clan members who wear a crest badge are displaying their chief’s motto, not their own, as the Court of the Lord Lyon explains.
So when a book gives “the motto of the Smith family,” read it as “a motto recorded for one family named Smith.” Fairbairn’s list of mottos, for example, attributes dozens of different mottos to families named Campbell. The same applies to arms in general; see what a family coat of arms really is.
Real mottos and what they mean
Each motto below appears in Burke (1884), Fairbairn (1905) or Fox-Davies (1909). Translations in quotation marks are quoted from Fairbairn or, where noted, from the Public Register of Arms of Canada; the others are plain renderings of the words.
| Motto | Translation | Recorded for | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cavendo tutus (Latin) | “Safe by being cautious” (as rendered in the Public Register of Arms of Canada) | Cavendish, Dukes of Devonshire | Pun on the name |
| Forte scutum salus ducum (Latin) | A strong shield is the safety of leaders | Fortescue | Pun: forte scutum, “strong shield” |
| Vernon semper viret (Latin) | “Vernon always flourishes” (Fairbairn); written “Ver non semper viret,” it also reads as a line about spring (ver), which does not always stay green | Vernon | Pun on the name |
| Bear and forbear (English) | Self-explanatory, with a nod to the bear in the arms | Barnard | Pun on the arms |
| Lamh dhearg Eirin (Irish) | “The red hand of Ireland” | O’Neill | Emblem and tradition |
| Lamh laidir an uachdar (Irish) | “The strongest hand uppermost” | O’Brien | Emblem |
| Craigellachie (Gaelic) | “The rock of alarm” | Grant | Slogan or war cry |
| Grip fast (Scots) | Hold on tight | Leslie | Commemorative legend |
Spellings vary between books. Fairbairn’s editor deliberately kept mottos “in the actual form in which I have understood them to be used, even at the expense of accurate and scholastic spelling,” so do not be surprised to find old or irregular forms. For the meaning of the symbols that often accompany these mottos, see our guide to heraldic symbols.
How to find the motto recorded for people of your name
- Burke’s General Armory (1884). Arranged alphabetically by surname, it ends many entries with “Motto.” Expect several entries under one surname, each for a different family, place or period. A free scan is on the Internet Archive.
- Fairbairn’s Book of Crests (4th edition, 1905). Volume 1 lists crests by surname and includes an alphabetical list of mottos with English translations and the names of the families who used them, which is useful for working backward from a motto you have seen on an old ring, seal or bookplate.
- Elvin’s Hand-book of Mottoes (1860). Charles Norton Elvin’s book collects mottos “borne by the nobility, gentry, cities, public companies, &c.” with translations, and has been reprinted several times.
- The official records. In Scotland the motto is part of the record in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings. In England, the College of Arms says its heralds “can very often identify coats of arms, crests and mottoes” from their records.
- Connect it to your own line. A motto found in a book only matters to your family if you can link your ancestors to the person who used it. Our guides on verifying a coat of arms and tracing your surname’s origin explain how.
A practical tip: the free scans are searchable, but old typefaces confuse the computer text. If a motto does not turn up, try a shorter fragment or an alternative spelling.
Can you choose your own motto?
Yes. If you are granted arms in England, you can choose almost any motto; Fox-Davies notes that the heralds would only decline one already appropriated to the sovereign or an order of knighthood. If you are not seeking arms at all, a family motto is simply a phrase you choose to live by, and nobody regulates it. For the route to genuine arms, see can anyone have a coat of arms?
See the arms recorded for your surname →
Sources
- Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (London, 1884), introduction, “The Motto.” Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/generalarmoryofe00burk
- Fairbairn’s Book of Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland, 4th edition (London, 1905), vol. 1, preface and list of mottoes. Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/fairbairnsbookof01fair
- Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry (London, 1909), chapter XXVIII, “Mottoes.” Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41617
- Charles Norton Elvin, A Hand-book of Mottoes Borne by the Nobility, Gentry, Cities, Public Companies, &c. (London: Bell and Daldy, 1860), listed at The Online Books Page: https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/who/Elvin%2c%20Charles%20Norton
- Governor General of Canada, Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges, entry for Victor Christian William Cavendish (motto “Cavendo tutus”): https://www.gg.ca/en/heraldry/public-register/project/3653
- Court of the Lord Lyon, “Frequently Asked Questions” (clan badges and the chief’s motto): https://courtofthelordlyon.scot/faqs.htm
- College of Arms, “FAQs: heraldry”: https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/resources/faqs
Frequently asked questions
Does every family have a motto?
No. Mottos belong to individual coats of arms, and most families never had arms at all. Even among armigers, the use of mottos only became general in England in the eighteenth century, and many grants were issued without one.
Is the motto listed for my surname my family’s motto?
Not automatically. A motto in Burke or Fairbairn was recorded for a particular person or family of that name, and other families of the same name often used different mottos. In England a motto can be changed at will, so it tells you what one bearer chose, not what everyone of the name uses.
What language are heraldic mottos written in?
Latin is very common, and French and English mottos are frequent too, but mottos also appear in Scots, Irish, Welsh and other languages. Irish mottos often end in ‘abu’, which Fairbairn renders as ‘to victory’, as in ‘Lamh foistenach abu’, ‘The gentle hand to victory’, recorded for O’Sullivan Mor.
Where does the motto go on a coat of arms?
In English heraldry it is usually shown on a scroll below the shield, but no rule fixes its position. In Scotland the grant itself normally specifies the position, most often on a scroll above the crest. When a Scottish achievement has both a motto and a war cry, the war cry goes above the crest and the motto below the shield.
Can I create my own family motto?
Yes. Outside an official grant, a motto is simply a phrase a family chooses to live by, and no authority regulates it. If you are granted arms in England you may pick almost any motto, although the heralds will not record one that belongs to the sovereign or an order of knighthood.