A New Baby Gift: A Family Crest for the Newest Member

Why a crest works as a baby gift

New parents are given a lot of things in the first weeks: tiny clothes, blankets, more stuffed animals than one child can hold. Most of it is useful for a season and then passed on. A crest made for the baby is different. It has their name on it, it says something about the family they were born into, and it is just as true when they are twelve as on the day it was printed.

It is also a gift you can make before the baby arrives and finish once the name is known. Design the shield and colors in advance, then add the name and birth date on the day, and the files download as soon as you pay.

A crest for one child, or for the whole family

The baby's own crest

Put their full name on the name line (up to 40 characters, so "Ava Rose Lindqvist" fits) and choose "Your initial" as the emblem. The shield then shows the first letter of the name you typed. It is the simplest design and the one that reads best on a small nursery print or the first page of a baby book.

The family crest, updated

If the family already has a crest they designed, a new baby is a good reason to make a version for the new household: same colors and emblem, a new motto such as "And Then There Were Four." Families with two surnames can split the shield down the middle (Per pale), one half for each side, which is the traditional heraldic way of showing two families joined.

A nod to how heralds marked children

Heraldry has long had ways to tell family members apart. In the English system of cadency marks, which dates from around 1500, sons added a small symbol to their father's arms: a label for the eldest, a crescent for the second, a mullet (a star) for the third, and so on. In practice the system was never applied very strictly, but it is a charming idea to borrow. A crescent or a star on a younger sibling's crest echoes it without claiming any official status.

Emblems and mottos for a new baby

• Initial: their first letter, monogram style. Timeless and easy to read.
• Star (mullet) or crescent: hope and a bright future, and a gentle echo of the old cadency marks.
• Acorn or tree: small beginnings and a family that grows. "Small Acorn, Mighty Oak" fits on the ribbon.
• Heart or rose: love, for a crest that is all about the family welcoming them.
• An animal they will grow up with: an owl, a bear or a lion can match the nursery theme. The symbols and meanings guide explains each one.

For the motto, the birth date is the classic choice ("Born March 3, 2027"), and mottos can be up to 48 characters, so a place of birth fits too. "Welcome, Little One" works when you design before the date is known. If the family likes Latin, Spero meliora means "I hope for better things," and the Latin motto generator has more phrases with their standard translations.

Ways to give it

1. A nursery print. The $9 set includes a 4000 by 5000 px image, about 13 by 16 inches at photo quality (300 pixels per inch), so it prints sharply at the common 8 by 10 or 11 by 14 frame sizes.
2. A certificate for the baby book. The set also includes a certificate of arms sized for US Letter that explains the design in heraldic language and in plain English. Under "Giving it as a gift?" add who it is presented to and who it is from, and it prints on the certificate with the date.
3. Something for older siblings. The $19 Heirloom set adds a coloring page of the crest, which gives a big brother or sister their own part in the welcome, plus bookplates for the baby's first books.
4. Birth announcements and thank-you cards. The SVG file in the $9 set scales cleanly for printed cards. A wax seal of the crest is a lovely finish for the envelopes; see the wax seal crest guide.

Looking for other occasions? Family crest gifts covers Christmas, anniversaries and birthdays, and the housewarming crest guide is for families moving into a bigger place to make room.

Design a baby crest

More free heraldry tools