A record of documented arms, meaning and origin, researched for the Barela family of Spain.
paleMilitary strength, and a fortified defenceJ. B. Rietstap, Armorial Général, Gouda: G. B. van Goor Zonen, 1884–87
Blazon (the actual original written record)“D'or à cinq pals de sin.”
The Barela arms were recorded in Andalusia, c. 1722.
Andalusia was the last part of Spain taken back from the Moors, and the land was shared out among the men who took it. A grant of land came with a grant of arms, so the region produced a great many.
This is where the arms were entered in the register. Families often moved to other parts of the country, so the same name can turn up in more than one region.
The body that granted and recorded arms in Spain in this period.
Reigning in Spain when the Barela arms are first recorded.
In Spain, a coat of arms was considered a form of property that belonged to the entire family line. These arms were passed down from a father to all his children equally. Younger branches of the family usually kept the original design without needing to add any special marks to distinguish their specific line.
The Barela family name traces its roots to the southern region of Spain known as Andalusia. By the year 1722, members of this family were well-established in the area, living through a period of significant cultural and social development in Spanish history. The name is often associated with the broader linguistic traditions of the Iberian Peninsula, where surnames frequently evolved from descriptions of a person's trade, their physical traits, or the specific town they called home. As the family grew, they became part of the local fabric of Andalusian society, participating in the agricultural and civic life that defined the region during the eighteenth century. Over time, the name traveled beyond these original borders, carried by family members who moved to new territories and helped shape the history of the communities they joined.
Derived from the Latin word varius meaning variegated or spotted.
