Some derive their names as well as their armorial bearings from some great feat that they may have performed. Thus:
"The son of Struan Robertson for killing of a wolf in Stocket Forest by a durk—dirk—in the King's presence, got the name of Skein, which signifies a dirk in Irish, and three durk points in pale for his arms."
We shall meet with numbers of other instances in heraldry where armorial bearings were bestowed upon the ancestors of their present bearers for some special reason, which is thereby commemorated.
Indeed, it is most interesting and amusing to collect the legends as well as the historical facts which explain the origin and meaning of different coats of arms.
Here are a few instances of some rather odd charges. (A charge is the heraldic term given to any object which is charged, or represented, on the shield of a coat of arms.)
To begin with the Redman family:
They bear three pillows, the origin of which Guillim explains—viz.: "This coat of arms is given to the Redman family for this reason: Having been challenged to single combat by a stranger, and the day and the place for that combat having been duly fixed, Redman being more forward than his challenger, came so early to the place that he fell asleep in his tent, whilst waiting for the arrival of his foe.
"The people being meanwhile assembled and the hour having struck, the trumpets sounded to the combat, whereupon Redman, suddenly awakening out of his sleep, ran furiously upon his adversary and slew him. And so the pillows were granted to him as armorial bearings, to remind all men of the doughty deed which he awakened from sleep to achieve."
In many cases the charges on a coat of arms reflect the name or the calling of the bearer.
When this happens they are called "allusive" arms, sometimes also "canting," which latter word is a literal translation of the French term, armes chantantes, although, as a matter of fact, armes parlantes is a more usual term. Here are some examples of allusive arms.