A record of documented arms, meaning and origin, researched for the Nowicki family of Austria.
J. B. Rietstap, Armorial Général, Gouda: G. B. van Goor Zonen, 1884–87
Blazon (the actual original written record)“D'azur à trois crocs d'arg., posés en pairle, celui en bas renv. Cq. cour. C.: une queue de paon au nat., ch. des meubles de l'écu.”
The Nowicki arms were recorded in Galicia, c. 1772.
Galicia was eastern country of large estates and small farming villages, held by families who had been there for a very long time. Land was what entitled a family to arms, and land there rarely changed hands.
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 Austria in this period.
Reigning in Austria when the Nowicki arms are first recorded.
Austrian coats of arms were often linked directly to noble titles granted by the Emperor. These symbols belonged to the entire family line rather than just one individual. When a family grew, new branches kept the original design without needing to change it. This system allowed all members of a noble house to share the same identity across many generations.
The surname Nowicki is a classic example of a Polish toponymic name, which means it was originally derived from a specific place. The root of the name comes from the Polish word "nowy," meaning new, and it was typically given to families who settled in a "new" village or a newly established area. By 1772, when the region of Galicia was incorporated into the Austrian Empire following the First Partition of Poland, the Nowicki family was already firmly established within the local population. During this period, the family lived in a landscape defined by shifting borders and a mix of Polish, Ukrainian, and Jewish cultures. Because Galicia served as a crossroads for trade and agriculture, the Nowickis were likely part of the rural or small-town society that navigated the complex administrative changes imposed by the Habsburg monarchy. Over time, the name became a common identifier for families who had built their lives in the fertile lands of the Carpathian foothills.
A Slavic adjective meaning new or fresh.
