A record of documented arms, meaning and origin, researched for the Brouhard family of France.
J. B. Rietstap, Armorial Général, Gouda: G. B. van Goor Zonen, 1884–87
Blazon (the actual original written record)“D'azur à un oeil d'arg. surmontant une redoute d'arg., maconnée de sa. et chargée d'un canon de sa., renversé avec son affût du même, le canon dirigé vers sen.”
The Brouhard arms were recorded in France, c. 1725.
Arms such as these were typically recorded in Bretagne.
More families held coats of arms in Bretagne than anywhere else in France. The land was divided into many small estates rather than a few large ones, so far more households counted as gentry, and each needed a shield of its own to be told apart.
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 France in this period.
Reigning in France when the Brouhard arms are first recorded.
In France, a coat of arms was a mark of honor that passed down through the male line to all legitimate descendants. Families often used the same shield without changes to show their shared heritage. If a branch wanted to stand out, they could add a small mark to their shield to show their specific place in the family tree.
The Brouhard family name finds its historical roots in the Brittany region of France, where records confirm the family was well-established by 1725. The name likely originated as a descriptive nickname or a localized occupational label common in the rural communities of the eighteenth century. During this period, families in Brittany often lived in tight-knit agricultural parishes where identity was closely tied to the specific village or land they cultivated. As the family grew, they participated in the typical social structures of the time, which centered on church life and local trade. By the early 1700s, the Brouhard name was already part of the fabric of Breton society, reflecting the migratory patterns and naming customs that defined the coastal and inland regions of western France during the pre-industrial era.
Derived from the Old French word for heather or brushwood.
