One of the most treasured reference books we have at www.shieldandcrest.com is Herbarz Polski. Compiled by H.Stupnicki in 1855, it is a comprehensive list of Polish surnames and their link to a particular coat of arms (Family Crest). It wasn’t until the 1400’s that the Polish nobility began to use family names. Soon a system of Clan names arose in which Clans would contain many different family names, some of them based toponomically on the village or area the bearer came from. In time, each Clan developed their own particular coat of arms, which became the arms of all those who bore allegiance to that “Herbu” (Clan). There are around 210 Polish coats of arms (Family Crests) in existence, each one recorded in Herbarz Polski, for example, if you look up the name Horyszewski it will say:”Herbu Nalecz”, indicating that the Horyszewski family was part of the Nalecz Clan and bore the Clan arms. This system of coats of arms and clans is unique to Poland. If you would like some help in finding the correct Clan arms for your Polish name ( Or any other nationality for that matter) feel free to call us at Toll Free (866) 289-2798, or contact us at www.shieldandcrest.com. We are the company that understands heraldry in all it’s wonderful complications, others just Google stuff…….