Rietstap’s Armorial General is a helpful but often misunderstood resource in modern heraldry. It’s a reference book, a catalog of coat-of-arms descriptions by name for easy searching. It neither grants arms nor serves as a universal surname registry.
Johannes Baptista Rietstap (1828–1891), a Dutch heraldist and genealogist, created the Armorial Général and expanded it into two volumes in the 1880s. He didn’t grant arms but standardized blazons (heraldic descriptions) from earlier sources, which is why his work is widely referenced, including by bucket shops that sell “family arms.”
For non-experts, a citation like “as found in Rietstap” creates an illusion of certainty, which companies rely on heavily in marketing. They use the book’s authority to suggest that if you find your surname, you’ve found your family’s arms, selling not just a product but the idea of legitimate heritage. But the core argument is this: what’s being sold isn’t the right to arms, but simply the feeling of legitimacy. People in heraldry recognize the tactic: companies often copy arm blazons directly from Rietstap or similar sources, making their sales seem more trustworthy. The blazons are real, but the implication that arms belong to any person with that surname is misleading.
This confusion persists because people misread a point that Rietstap’s format doesn’t clarify. He lists arms under surnames for organization. Today, people see surnames as group labels, so they assume anything under their name belongs to them. But heraldry doesn’t work that way. Arms are granted to individuals and passed to legitimate heirs according to the rules, not to all who share the surname.
I can illustrate this with numbers: my copy of Rietstap lists at least 14 Abbots, 26 Campbells, and 38 Smiths (among thousands of other surnames). So when a company bucket shop offers “the” Abbot, Campbell, or Smith family arms, it’s really presenting a choice, often the most appealing or “pretty” one. Multiple entries under a single surname show that surnames serve as index labels, not as proof of family identity or the right to arms. I understand why this narrative is persuasive. I once believed it myself when I was starting in Heraldry. Searching for my Scottish Young ancestors, I typed “Young coat of arms.” I was given three different versions on a few company bucket shop websites. I didn’t buy any of them, as I soon found out that Rietstap lists four different armigers with the surname Young, all in different time periods and locations. My experience proves the central point: with multiple answers sold as truth, what is sold is confidence, not genuine heritage or rights.
Multiple Young Coats of Arms found in the Rietstap Armorial...which one is "my family's"? Neither of them of course, but these companies bucket shops sell them as if they are.
This is why I emphasize that Rietstap’s book is just a compilation. He drew on earlier armorials and sources that varied in quality and practice across regions and over time. While valuable, even the best compilations do not establish a right to bear certain arms. Use it as a guide, not as proof.
As a heraldic artist, I use Rietstap as a starting point. When evaluating inherited arms, I use his work to find possible lines and descriptions. Then I seek primary sources, clarify who actually bore the arms, check the legal context, and confirm family connection if descent is claimed. That’s proper practice, and very different from assuming everyone with a surname has the same arms.
I also want to be upfront about something else. Even if there’s no clear link to the person listed in Rietstap, the books are still very useful. They’re a great source for ideas, references, and historical terms. You can see how symbols were combined, which designs were popular in different regions, or how a surname appears in various contexts. Heraldry has always evolved. Arms can look different across sources; family branches may have unique versions; artists redraw them; and compilers adjust the details. The “same” arms can vary depending on when and where they were recorded. Using Rietstap as a visual and conceptual guide when designing a new coat of arms for a client aligns with how heraldry has worked for centuries.
The central issue is this: simply sharing a surname with a Rietstap entry does not entitle someone to buy or claim “their family arms.” That’s neither meaningful research nor real inheritance. It’s just a sale packaged as certainty.
In short, Rietstap’s book can demonstrate that someone with your surname bore arms at some point in time, but it cannot prove that you have any claim to them or that they are "your family's" arms. Any seller who equates being “found in Rietstap” with proof of right is not engaging in real heraldry, they are selling a false narrative, not a fact.
