Aichinger Family Crest / Aichinger Coat of Arms

The surname of AICHINGER has the associated coat of arms recorded in Rietstaps Armorial General. Registered in Poland, and granted on the 2nd April in the year 1577. The earliest Polish surnames were patronymic. The personal names from which they were derived were mainly Slavonic, but as the Middle Ages progressed, traditional Slavic given names, began to give way to saint's names, mainly of Latin origin. Surnames derived from Slavonic personal names are of early origin, and tend to be borne by aristocratic families. The Normans had three kinds of names from different sources. First were names their Viking ancestors brought from Norway to France (8th Century). That's why they were Normans (Northmen). Second were names they found in France.The Franks (French) had come from Franconia in Germany and had crossed the Rhine to occupy the Roman Province of Gaul (5th Century) and called it France. They mixed Latin and German to create French, translating old Germanic names into it, ignoring existing Latin and Celtic (pre-Roman) names.The Viking Normans who also ditched their own language (except for the names) adopted French names as well. The third kind of Norman names were religious. They became Christians and the most religious of them used Saints names. The Normans between 1066 and 1170 conquered England, southern Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Sicily and southern Italy.They were followed everywhere by other French families and some Bretons (the pre-Roman Celts left in north-west France). To this day their names are found in Royalty, Politics and Big Business in these countries and in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States which their descendants colonised. It has long been a matter of doubt when the bearing of coats of arms first became hereditary and it was not until the Crusades that Heraldry came into general use. Men went into battle heavily armed and were difficult to recognise. It became the custom for them to adorn their helmets with distinctive crests, and to paint their shields with animals and the like. Coats of arms accompanied the development of surnames, becoming hereditary in the same way.