Family name history

markothegreat

I'm thinking of starting a small heraldry business, I have sourced the family crest graphics .
But does anyone know where I could find a data base of copyright free "family surname history" from names typically found in Ireland, England and Scotland. example "smith" "Wallace" etc
I've searched the web but still haven't found what I'm looking for..
I would even consider paying for such a resource!

Obviously I am conscious of the copyright implications, so the history information would have to be free to use.

Any ideas would be gratefully received

pinkypinky

If you are based in Ireland, it would be worth doing some market research because there's already quite a few doing the same thing.

Edward MacLysaght's work "The surnames of Ireland" is a good starting point, but as a coat of arms is generally considered to belong to one family granted that name, rather than all people bearing it, he doesn't show the coats of arms. He had several follow-up books detailing histories of specific families.

The office of the Chief Herald of Ireland, based in the National Library, holds these original grants, which are beautifully illustrated in colour. Photos are permitted but it would take a long time to copy each one. Sometimes they don't allow people to access the originals either.

Burke's Peerage and Landed Gentry (many editions, presumably a lot of out of copyright) have line drawings of coats of arms with the blazon. Again these arms are specific to individual families, but many people do not care about this.

markothegreat

Thanks pp that's very helpful that's a great starting point,
Do you know is there a digital edition Edward MacLysaght's work "The surnames of Ireland"

Del.Monte

As pinkypinky said it's a crowded market and you would need to offer something really worthwhile to get a foothold. Have you been here: http://www.heraldicartists.com - they have quite a lot of reading material and, if I recall, digital stuff too.

pedroeibar1

markothegreat wrote: »

I'm thinking of starting a small heraldry business, I have sourced the family crest graphics ........

You asked and obtained responses to that question just a few months ago
Anybody starting a business is best advised to learn and fully understand the sector s/he intends to operate in. That includes doing basic homework / research.

As others have pointed out there already is a considerable number of players in the heraldry business, honest one (few) and charlatans (many). TBH, there is no room for a start-up that depends on information available 'free' online.

pinkypinky

markothegreat wrote: »

Thanks pp that's very helpful that's a great starting point,
Do you know is there a digital edition Edward MacLysaght's work "The surnames of Ireland"

None that I'm aware of. You'll certainly need to own a copy for reference if you intend to operate such a business.

Peregrinus

Plus, I'm pretty sure that McLysaght's work is still in copyright. The facts themselves can't be copyrighted, of course, but you can't just go copying chunks of his text for commercial purposes.

markothegreat

Thanks All..

_Brian

I'd suggest looking at google AdWords search volume statistics for Ireland for the relavent search terms, the search volumes are awfully small and that taken with it being a market where there are well established companies there already, well you should draw your own conclusions from the data.