Staffordshire's Punning Heraldry - Cunliffe

 Cunliffe

Arms:  Sable three conies courant Argent.

Crest: A greyhound sejant Argent collared Sable.

There is an excellent heraldic pun (known in heraldry as canting arms) to be found in this achievement. The pun operates on two clever levels, playing with both the sounds of the words and the interactions of the animals depicted. The core of the pun relies on the historical pronunciation of the word "Conies". The word Conies (the old English word for rabbits) was traditionally pronounced to rhyme with "honeys" or "monies" (with a short 'u' sound: /ˈkʌni/). 

"Cunliffe" (originally derived from the Lancashire location Cundeclif or Cumbecliue) starts with the exact same phonetic sound ("Cun-").  By placing three conies on the shield, the armiger was using visual wordplay to sound out the first syllable of the surname Cunliffe. 

The combination of the shield and the crest creates a lively, theatrical joke: On the shield, the conies are described as courant (running). Perched directly above them on the crest is a greyhound, a dog famously bred for coursing and hunting rabbits. The layout creates a perpetual visual gag: the greyhound sits atop the helmet eternally watching or waiting to chase the three rabbits running across the shield right below it.