Family heraldry was introduced into South Africa in 1652. It has flourished and developed ever since, and today countless South Africans bear coats of arms, some of them handed down over many generations. However, not surprisingly in view of the European origins of heraldry, the use of family arms still seems to be almost entirely confined to White families.

Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a "family" coat of arms, as each member of a family bears his arms as an individual, either as the originator of the arms, or as the inheritor of ancestral arms. However, in practice (and especially in the case of the old Afrikaner families, where it is not always possible to identify the original armiger), this is sometimes a distinction without a difference.

Bergh

Background
In the 17th century, the Netherlands was one of the most heraldically active countries in Europe, and evidently many of the settlers who established themselves at the Cape of Good Hope from the 1650s onwards brought arms with them from Europe. Others who were not armigerous may have assumed arms after their arrival. These European settlers, from Germany, France, and other countries as well as the Netherlands, eventually assimilated to form a new nation: the Afrikaners.

The earliest settler identifiable as being armigerous appears to be Swedish-born Olof Bergh, who arrived in 1676.

Duckitt

Truter

From 1814 onwards, both British and Afrikaner colonists could obtain grants from the College of Arms as an alternative to simply assuming arms, and between 1837 and 1961 at least thirty people did so. Interestingly, the first was an Afrikaner, Sir Jan Truter (in 1837). Most of the arms were granted between 1905 and 1924, to mining magnates and others who had been knighted and apparently wanted coats of arms to enhance their new status.

However, assumption remains the primary source of new arms for both language groups. Some arms are original, while others have been taken from printed and other sources in the belief that they are ancestral arms - a practice which is by no means confined to South Africa. Between 1945 and 1947, several dozen families evidently assumed arms which were published in a series of articles on Afrikaner family histories in the magazine Die Brandwag. However, as later research showed, many of the arms actually belonged to other families, and some had been invented by the author of the articles.

Voluntary registration of family arms, to protect them against misuse, was introduced when the Bureau of Heraldry was established in 1963. Since 1975, a few African and Indian South Africans have registered arms at the Bureau. The first was HM King Goodwill Zwelithini of the Zulus (in 1975).

Characteristics
Most family and personal arms consist of a shield, crest and motto scroll, and they are usually depicted with a helmet and mantling. Barred helmets were the norm in the Dutch colonial period, but the British added their system of different patterns for different social classes, and the plain tournament helmet became widely used as a result. Since the 1970s the barred helmet, the barrel helm and the closed-visored helmet have also been used as alternatives, but the tournament helmet remains the most popular.

Supporters are rare and, in the long-established European and British tradition, they are largely confined to royalty, the aristocracy, baronets, and high-ranking knights, though a few of the old Afrikaner families have them. The few traditional leaders, i.e. kings and chiefs, who are armigerous also have supporters.

A number of family associations, which have been set up to preserve their families' heritage and family trees, have registered arms. They consist of a shield (with optional motto), displaying the family arms with a blank chief across the top.

Inheritance, Matriculation, and Cadency
A personal coat of arms is hereditary, and every descendant of the original owner/grantee is entitled to bear it too. By custom, only paternal arms are transmitted to children, but if a woman is armigerous and an heraldic heiress (i.e. her father has died and she has no living brothers or nephews to continue the arms in her family) then her arms too are transmitted to her children.

Under the Heraldry Act, any proven descendant or lawfully adopted descendant of someone who lawfully bears or bore arms is entitled to register them, in his/her own name, provided he/she has the same surname as the ancestor. Alternatively, since 1980, a registered armiger can apply for his/her arms to be re-registered, on his/her death, in the name of any descendant or of anyone else bearing the same family name. In both cases, differencing is optional.

The first such re-registration ("matriculation") was recorded in 1978, and since then more than three dozen arms have been matriculated; in some families matriculation has already reached great-grandchildren. Few are differenced and, as the Bureau does not prescribe any particular system or method, there are examples of the English and Scottish systems as well as continental European methods such as changing tinctures or lines. One armiger reportedly has adopted the Canadian system for his daughters' arms, but they do not appear to have been registered.

Foreign Arms
The Bureau will also register the arms of foreign applicants, and this appears to have increased in the past few years. As the Government Gazette does not indicate the nationality or residence of applicants, it isn't always easy to tell if arms are actually South African or not. A fair number of foreign applicants appear to be Italian and Portuguese aristocrats, and the holders of Irish and Scottish feudal lordships. Quite a few Americans have applied for registration of their arms in the past few years.

Legal Protection
Since 1963 registered personal and family arms have been protected under the Heraldry Act. A coat of arms is the property of the person in whose name it has been registered (or matriculated), and if the owner finds anyone else wearing, using, selling, bartering or trading in unauthorised representations of it he can (i) obtain a court order to stop him, and/or (ii) sue him for damages of up to 1000 rands.

Since 1980, it has been illegal for dealers in representations of family arms to offer them for sale unless the Bureau of Heraldry has certified the arms as authentic. While this may have clipped the wings of South African-based "arms hawkers" (also known in some countries as "bucket shops"), the advent of the internet has enabled foreign traders to reach the South African market online.