Coat of Arms & Family Crest Details
J. B. Rietstap, Armorial Général, Gouda: G. B. van Goor Zonen, 1884–87
Blazon (the actual original written record)“D'azur à un croiss. d'arg., acc. de trois licornes d'or, les deux du chef affr.”
A record of documented arms, meaning and origin, researched for the Grober 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 croiss. d'arg., acc. de trois licornes d'or, les deux du chef affr.”
The Grober arms were recorded in Lorraine, c. 1663.
Lorraine sat on the border between France and the German lands, and border country bred soldiers. Families here held small estates and served in arms, and a fighting man was exactly the sort who carried a shield of his own.
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.
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 surname Grober is rooted in the linguistic traditions of the Germanic regions, where it likely originated as a descriptive nickname. In Middle High German, the term "grob" meant coarse, rough, or unrefined, and it was often used to describe a person with a sturdy build or a blunt personality. By the time the family was documented in the Lorraine region in 1663, the name had become a fixed hereditary surname passed down through generations. During this period, Lorraine was a crossroads of cultural exchange between French and German influences, which often led to variations in how names were spelled in official church and tax records. Families bearing this name were typically part of the rural or artisan classes, living in small villages where they worked as farmers or tradespeople. Over the centuries, the Grober family became deeply embedded in the social fabric of the region, maintaining their identity through local community ties and ancestral landholdings.
A Middle High German term meaning coarse, rough, or uncouth.
