Family crest creator
A free family crest creator that uses heraldry's real parts: a shield, a divided field, proper tinctures, a charge, your family name and a motto. Download it as a PNG or a print-ready SVG.
Follows the rule of tincture: metal on colour, or colour on metal.
Transparent background. Made on your device.
Want a lion? Draw the crest with AI
The builder makes clean, modern crests from line-drawn charges. The traditional look, with a lion rampant, an eagle, a helmet and flowing mantling, is a drawing, so it's a job for an image model. Describe the arms in plain words, from $0.10 an image.
Press Enter and we’ll carry your idea straight into the studio after sign-up.
Start from a classic
How to create a family crest
- Step 1
Name and motto
Type the family name for the top and a short motto for the scroll. Latin is traditional; your own language is fine.
- Step 2
Shield and division
Pick a shield shape, then divide the field: per pale (down the middle), per fess (across), per bend (diagonal), quarterly or a chief across the top.
- Step 3
Tinctures and a charge
Choose the field's tinctures and a charge to sit on it, in a tincture of its own. The page warns you if the colours break the rule of tincture.
- Step 4
Download
Save a 2000-pixel PNG with a transparent background, or an SVG that prints sharp at any size.
The heraldry, in a few words
| Tincture | Plain English | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Or | gold | Metal |
| Argent | silver / white | Metal |
| Gules | red | Colour |
| Azure | blue | Colour |
| Vert | green | Colour |
| Sable | black | Colour |
| Purpure | purple | Colour |
Heraldry has its own words for the colours, called tinctures, and one rule that matters more than the rest: put a metal on a colour, or a colour on a metal, never metal on metal or colour on colour. It exists so a shield can be read from across a field. The builder checks it for you and says so when a choice breaks it, though plenty of real arms break it on purpose.
The field can be divided 5 ways here, from a simple split to quarters, and the charge is the symbol on top: 28to choose from, each with the meaning it's most often given. Treat those meanings as tradition, not rules. A ship for a family that emigrated, or an open book for one full of teachers, says more than a crown picked because it looks grand.
Is it legal to make your own family crest?
Mostly yes, and it's more honest than buying one. The College of Arms, England's official heraldic authority, says there's no such thing as a coat of arms for a surname. Arms are granted to a person and pass to their descendants, so a shop selling “the Smith family crest” is selling one Smith's arms to every other Smith.
Rules differ by country. According to Wikipedia's overview of heraldic law, in the United States personal arms may be freely assumed but aren't protected, while in Scotland the Court of the Lord Lyon still has jurisdiction over all heraldic matters. For a crest on a wedding invitation, a reunion T-shirt or the wall at home, design your own. If you want arms on an official register, that's a matter for your country's heraldic authority. This isn't legal advice.
Finished? A crest makes a good centre for a reunion banner. Put the PNG on a photo collage of the family, or turn a favourite old photo into a pencil sketch to sit beside it, with a WordArt title across the top.
Frequently asked questions
Can you legally create your own family crest?
In most places, yes. In the United States anyone can design and use their own arms; nobody regulates them, and nobody protects them either. England's College of Arms grants official arms to individuals, and Scotland is the strict one: there the Court of the Lord Lyon still has jurisdiction over arms. A crest you design for your family's wall or wedding is fine almost everywhere.
How do I create my own family crest?
Pick a shield, divide the field, choose two tinctures and a charge that means something to your family, then add the name and a motto. The builder above does each step and checks the colours against heraldry's rule of tincture. Download it as a PNG or SVG.
Can AI create a family crest?
Yes. Describe the arms in plain words, like "a gold lion on a red shield with a crown above", and an image model draws an illustrated crest. It's the route for lions, eagles and helmets that a builder can't draw. On Leaxor that costs from $0.10 an image; check that any words in the picture are spelled right.
How much does it cost to create a family crest?
This builder is free. An AI-illustrated crest costs from $0.10 an image on Leaxor. An official grant of arms from a heraldic authority such as the College of Arms is a formal legal process with substantial fees, which is a different thing from designing a crest for your family.
Is there a coat of arms for my surname?
Not in the way family crest shops suggest. The College of Arms says plainly that there is no such thing as a coat of arms for a surname: arms belong to a person and their descendants, and many people with the same surname have different arms or none. Designing your own is the honest version.
What's the difference between a crest and a coat of arms?
Strictly, the crest is only the part that sits above the helmet on top of a full coat of arms. In everyday use, "family crest" means the whole design, shield and all, and that's what this page makes.
What do the colours and symbols on a family crest mean?
Each tincture has a heraldic name (Or is gold, Gules is red, Azure is blue) and popular meanings, like red for courage. Those meanings are tradition rather than rules, so choose what means something to your family. The builder shows the common reading of each charge as you pick it.
Can I print my family crest?
Yes. Download the SVG for printing: it's vector, so it stays sharp on a poster, a mug or an embroidery file. The PNG is 2000 pixels wide with a transparent background, enough for most prints up to about A4 at good quality.
Other image tools
Give the family story a picture.
Leaxor draws images from a sentence and turns them into video clips, for the reunion slideshow or the ancestors' portrait gallery.
See the image generator