Hello, first time here and glad I found this forum. I am in dire need of information. I am doing research on my family coat of arms. The last name is Miller of German origin. The research has pointed me to Bavaria, Germany. The shield is gold with the "Catherine Wheel" on it, dating back to the 12th century. Is there anyone who can confirm this? If so, what would the actual shield or coat of arms look like? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. I'm relying on the best of the best on this forum. It is extremely important to me and thank you in advance for reading this and your time.

Dan Miller

Hi Dan,

Not to disappoint, but the whole "family coat-of-arms" is very misleading. A coat-of-arms was given to one particular person and then passed down to their descendants. That means that the arms are valid for the direct descendants of the man with the coat-of-arms, but not for other people sharing the same surname. So, for instance, while there is a German family coat-of-arms for Peters, my surname, unless I know I am directly related one cannot properly call it my family's coat-of-arms. Also, it's possible that I might be related as an extremely distant cousin or some other form of indirect descendant of some sort, but to claim the family's arms as my own would be almost meaningless: I could probably have equally valid claim to many coats-of-arms belonging to more or less distant relations. So the first and most pertinent question to ask is how directly are you descended from the bearer of these arms?

"Müller" is the most common surname in germany. Miller is just a modification, either because there is no " ü " in English, so someone changed it, or one of your ancestors lived in an area where the dialect changed "Müller" to "Miller". If you want to claim a coat of arms as yours, just as Craig Peters said, you need to be the direct descendant.

To your question how the coat of arms may have looked like, the "Katharinenrad" ("Rad" = wheel) or "Richtrad" ("richten" = to judge, a "Richter" is a judge) can be found quite often. Here are some examples:
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Thank you guys for your replays. I pretty much figured the same thing you posted. It will take alot more time to trace my surname back that far, if I will even be able to. I was just going to use it in a generic form anyway for a conversation piece, as in. All "Millers" till maybe finding the truth one day. It may not lead anywhere. I do believe it was spelled either Muller or Mueller. I was just curious what the shields looked like for that period. None the less, Thank you for your time.

Dan