Sunday, 24 May 2026

Shropshire's Heraldic Puns - Lowe

I have completed many more punning arms but, for the moment, I am rationing those which are published as I have decided to work on an illustrated book. 

Here's one to keep the theme going online, that of Lowe.

Lowe

Lowe, Thomas of Highley, 1623

Arms: Gules, a wolf statant Argent.

Crest: An ermine passant Proper collared Or and lined & ringed Gules.


The arms of Thomas Lowe, of Highley (1623).

This pun exists because the surname Lowe often derives from the Anglo-Norman French word lou or loup, meaning wolf. 

The heraldic pun of the wolf in the surname Lowe relies on canting arms (visual puns on a bearer's name), drawing from the Anglo-Norman word loup or lou and the Latin lupus, both meaning "wolf." Because the medieval spoken language of the English nobility shifted from Norman French to Middle English, Anglo-Norman names like le Lou or le Lu (the wolf) naturally evolved into the phonetic variants Low, Lowe, or Loe. 

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