How to submit a registration

Heraldry of the World
Personal arms

Register of personal arms - How to submit a registration
Instructions:

To submit your arms to the Heraldry of the World register of personal arms, an e-mail must be sent to our registration address. The e-mail must be in the format specified below. If the format is not respected, the submission will be rejected. Please copy and paste the contents of the window below into the e-mail body. Read the instructions and include your answers below them. Mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk (*). If you have any questions or wish to correct a submission, please try to reply to your confirmation e-mail, do not send a new e-mail.

Register submissions address:
hotwregister@gmail.com

Registration form

Please copy this form into your e-mail body and fill in the required information. Mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk (*).

IMPORTANT: Copy the entire contents of the form box. Do not forget to include the terms and conditions listed at the bottom of the registration form in your e-mail. Without them, your registration will be invalid.

Full name - Please specify your full name in the boxes bellow. Academic or other titles are optional. Please note that Heraldry of the World reserves the right to not include any titles. Surname: Remainder of name (first name, middle names etc.): Abbreviated titles BEFORE name: Abbreviated titles AFTER name: Country of Origin* - Please specify either your country of birth or the country you are a citizen of and identify with. Country should be a UN-recognised state: Place of origin - Please specify either your place of birth or residence. This can include the city, region or state, how specific you choose to be is up to you. Grant of arms* - Please specify whether your arms were granted or registered by an official heraldic authority of an internationally recognised country. English blazon of your arms* - Please include the blazon of your arms in English. The blazon you provide must be complete and correspond to the emblazonment of arms you will submit in this form. If no blazon is available in English, leave blank. Please note that either a blazon in English or in another language is required for registration: Blazon in non-English language* - Please specify any other language and include the blazon of your arms in the language declared in the question above. The blazon you provide must be complete and correspond to the emblazonment of arms you will submit in this form. Please note that either a blazon in English or in your another language is required for registration. If you do not wish to provide another blazon, leave blank: Design rationale - Please explain the symbolism behind these arms. The text should be written in 3rd person for easier inclusion on your page. Design process* - Please explain how you created these arms, which artists, if any, you worked with etc. This question is required to ensure bucket heraldry is eliminated from the registration process: Registration details* - Please specify if these arms have been registered with any other private register of arms. Image* - Please include the image you wish to display in your registration as an attachment to this e-mail. The image must be in .jpg or .png format. It must conform to basic aesthetic standards:* - It must be heraldically correct and follow the blazon. - It must be "clean" from a graphic perspective. There must be no bitmap or compression artefacts, no discolourations etc. - It should be in a unified style. Collages from vastly different clipart, vector objects etc. will not be accepted. - The image should have a transparent or white background. Terms and conditions - Please read carefully. These terms and your approval must be included in the e-mail you send. I have read the terms and conditions and thus accept the following: - Your arms and any accompanying information you provided or will subsequently provide in relation to your registration, including any other image files submitted, will be displayed publicly at Heraldry of the World. - This does not include your email address which will be kept private. - The information and images you submit will undergo review. This may result in the information and images being edited, refused or your registration being rejected. - You may be asked to clarify or replace the submitted information and images. Failure to do so may result in your registration being rejected. - Submitting your coat of arms and accompanying information is not a guarantee of registration. Heraldry of the World reserves the right to reject any submission without providing an explanation. By sending this e-mail, you agree to the above listed terms and approve of the publication of your submitted information.

IMPORTANT: Copy the entire contents of the form box. Do not forget to include the terms and conditions listed at the bottom of the registration form in your e-mail. Without them, your registration will be invalid.

Frequently asked questions

Q: I haven't received any news about my registration in a long while. Is it being worked on?
A: Yes, we continue to work on registrations. The work is slow as it is done in the administrator's spare time but it is slowly moving forward. Please be patient, you will be contacted once your turn arrives.

Q: I see your have changed your registration submission system from Google Forms to an e-mail based system. Is my previously submitted registration still valid?
A: There are two Google Forms - one for users with a Google account, one without. All registration requests submitted via the first form (WITH Google account) are still valid and will be dealt with before we move onto e-mail based submissions. Registrations submitted via the second form (NO GOOGLE ACCOUNT) are being annulled. This is due to the fact that these submissions require us to follow up on them to request an image. The majority of such requests are then ignored by the armigers requesting registration. Instead, an e-mail notification will be sent to all the people who used the second form to inform them of the change and request they resubmit their registration via the new e-mail system. We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause and thank you for understanding.

Q: Why do you not consider arms granted by Sealand or by various noble houses as "granted"?
A: We only label arms as "granted" or "officially registered" if they have been granted by national heraldic authorities as they have official legal standing. Sealand is not an internationally recognised nation and thus we cannot consider their "grants" as legally binding. The same goes for arms "granted" by various non-ruling royal houses and noble houses. We will, however, register your arms as ungranted commoner arms, without noble attributes. Among the entities whose grants we consider valid are, for example, the College of Arms or Lord Lyon King of Arms in the United Kingdom or the Flemish Heraldic Council in Belgium. Among the entities whose registrations we accept as official is the Heraldic Council of the President of the Russian Federation and various subnational authorities in Russia, the Bureau of Heraldry of South Africa or the Chronicler of Arms of Castile and Leon. This list is inclusive but not exhaustive.

Q: My arms contain noble attributes, can I register them with you?
A: Yes, as long as you can provide evidence that they were either granted by a valid national heraldic authority or at least matriculated by such an authority.

Q: Will you include my noble title with my registration?
A: Yes, as long as you can provide evidence that it is a noble title officially accepted by a UN member state government.

Q: Can I include my banner / badge / alternate emblazonment with my registration?
A: Yes, within reason we will include more images along with your registration.

Q: Why was the image of my arms deemed insufficient?
A: There are several reasons why the image of your arms does not meet our aesthetic standards. The most common issues include the image being in low resolution, it may contain bitmap artefacts or it may be an obvious collage of images in different styles. In general we are lenient with what images we admit but we do request some minimum requirements be met. If your image does not match our standards, consider getting in contact with a heraldic artist to create a quality emblazonment for you. Many willing artists may be found in the Facebook, Reddit or Discord heraldic communities.
Q: I am a member of an order or have been granted a medal, can I display it beneath the arms I submit?
A: Yes, as long as the order or medal is from a UN-recognised country or their national institutions. Orders or medals from private, non-state organisations, various "religious orders" or from various sub-national kingdoms will not be accepted. Please submit the image of your arms without them.