The Owl Coat of Arms: Meaning and Design

What an owl means on a coat of arms

Wisdom, learning and vigilance. The link is very old: the owl was the bird of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, and from around 500 BC the silver coins of Athens showed her head on one side and an owl with an olive sprig on the other. The Romans gave the same owl to Minerva, their goddess of wisdom, and the idea has never really gone away. When people today want an emblem that says "we think before we act", they still reach for the owl.

Heraldry added a second meaning. An owl sees in the dark and stays awake while others sleep, so it also stands for watchfulness: the guardian who keeps an eye on the house at night. That makes it a gentle but serious choice, wise rather than fierce.

How heralds draw the owl

The heraldic owl is usually drawn standing, with its face turned toward the viewer, so its two large round eyes look straight out of the shield. That front-facing stare is what makes an owl easy to recognize even at a small size. Owls are often shown in silver or gold, and a blazon may also call for an owl "proper", meaning in its natural brown colors.

The owl in Crest Studio follows that tradition: a front-facing owl perched on a branch, with its ear tufts up and its wings folded.

Famous owls in heraldry

Leeds

The coat of arms of the city of Leeds has an owl as its crest and two crowned owls as supporters on either side of the shield. The owls come from the arms of Sir John Savile, the first Alderman of Leeds, and the owl has become a much-loved symbol of the city.

Oldham and Hugh Oldham

The arms of Oldham in Lancashire show three silver owls on black with a gold chevron, and an owl as the crest. They were granted in 1894 and based on the arms of the Oldham family. The owls are a visual pun: the name was said locally as something like "Owdham". Heralds call this kind of pun canting arms, and it is one of the oldest jokes in heraldry. The borough's motto, Sapere Aude (dare to be wise), plays on the owl too.

The family's best-known member was Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter, who founded Manchester Grammar School in 1515. The school also uses the motto Sapere Aude, and his owls still appear in the arms of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, which he helped found.

These arms belong to their cities, families and schools, so use them as inspiration and give your own owl its own colors, name and motto.

Designing your owl crest

Colors

A silver owl on black is the night watch itself and looks especially sharp in print. Gold on blue feels scholarly, silver on purple looks like an old university, and gold on green or red is warm and friendly. Each pair keeps the rule of tincture: a metal (gold or silver) against a color. The heraldry meanings guide explains what each color traditionally stands for.

Keep the field simple

The owl's round face and big eyes are its whole character, so a plain field shows it best. If you want more on the shield, try a chevron or a fess behind it, and keep the owl in a metal so it stands out.

For schools, libraries and quiz teams

The owl is a natural emblem for a school house of wisdom, a library, a tutoring business, a book club or a pub quiz team. See school house crests for setting up a whole house system, and the Crest Logo Kit if you need a logo, favicons and social banners for a small business.

For families

An owl suits a family that values learning: parents who were the first to go to college, a long line of teachers, or grandparents who always had the answer. It also makes a thoughtful graduation or retirement gift for a teacher.

Mottos

Try Sapere Aude (dare to be wise), Lux et Veritas (light and truth), Scientia Potentia Est (knowledge is power) or plain English such as "Wise and Watchful". The Latin motto generator has more, each with a translation.

Design an owl crest

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