Right now, beside my chair is my family’s crest.  As I am a fan of heraldry [1], and my family’s history, it is perhaps unsurprising that I have a family crest.  What is more surprising, perhaps, is that there are some discrepancies between different versions of the Albright family crest I have seen between the one I have and others I have seen.

For example, the crest I have has a red color background, and the main shield has a single fleur-de-lis, along with a smaller one in a shield above the main one.  There is a wreath around the shield, along with a closed helmet and crossing swords.  The symbols and colors have meaning [2].  The red color, for example, means warrior or martyr.  The fleur-de-lis means purity, and also the 6th son.  I’m guessing that the main one means purity and the smaller shield means the sixth son down the line somewhere.  The helmet means wisdom and security in defense, as well as strength, protection, and invulnerability.  The swords mean justice and military honor.  The wreath means civic service or triumph.  All in all, it’s a flattering set of very militaristic meanings.

Nonetheless, there are other Albright crests I have seen which in no way resemble the one I have.  For example, there is a site, seeking to sell family information, that shows an entirely different crest but provides some useful, if imprecise, family information [3].  The Albright family comes from the Germanic speaking world (with a variety of names like Albrecht and Adalbert), including the Hapsburg Royal Family (!) and an archbishop martyred in the late 10th century AD while converting the Prussians to Christianity (!!).

The crest shown by the Albright family site, though, is quite distinct, though some of the symbols (the helmet and wreath) are the same.  The site has the red, but also adds gold (which means generosity or elevation of the mind) as well as a star, which means celestial goodness, noble person, and excellence.  Again, it’s a flattering meaning, albeit one that is less martial and more intellectual in nature.  It’s hard to tell which one is the accurate one (if either), but neither of them are unflattering.  It’s a shame that part of my family is so obscure, having come over in the early 1700’s from some German-speaking area (no one in my family knows precisely where) to Eastern Pennsylvania.  It’s nice to know that they were of good, noble stock, however obscure their activities upon reaching the United States (which included settling a town in the Poconos named Albrightville and settling in the Groundhog Day capital of the world, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania for several generations.  Nobody’s perfect.

[1] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/dieu-et-mon-droit-an-examination-of-english-heraldry/

[2] http://www.fleurdelis.com/meanings.htm

[3] http://www.houseofnames.com/albright-family-crest