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Canting arms areheraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name (or, less often, some attribute or function) in avisual pun orrebus.

The expression derives from the latincantare (to sing).French heralds used the termarmes parlantes (English:"talking arms"), as they would sound out the name of the armiger. Many armorial allusions require research for elucidation because of changes in language and dialect that have occurred over the past millennium.

Canting arms – some in the form of rebuses – are quite common in German civic heraldry. They have also been increasingly used in the 20th century among the British royal family.^{[citation needed]} When the visual representation is expressed through arebus, this is sometimes called arebus coat of arms.^{[citation needed]}Anin-joke among theSociety for Creative Anachronism heralds is thepun, "Heralds don't pun; they cant."^[2]

A famous example of canting arms are those ofQueen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's paternal family, theBowes-Lyon family. The arms (pictured below) contain the bows and blue lions that make up the arms of the Bowes and Lyon families.

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  Bowes-Lyon family:bows andlions
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  Princess Beatrice of York:Beatrice = bee thrice = threebees
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  Rosetti family: threeroses
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  Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone: threehog's heads
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  Cockburn: three redcocks
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  Crowninshield family:crown inshield
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  De Barry family: threebars gemelles
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  Coat of arms of the head of the PortugueseCosta family:costa means "rib" inLatin andPortuguese
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  President Dwight D. Eisenhower: a blacksmith'sanvil, asEisenhauer isGerman for "iron-hewer"
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  Flag of Maryland, originally the arms ofGeorge Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, whose mother's maiden name was Crossland; the latter's arms shows across.^[3]
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  Theodore Roosevelt: roses-fields
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  Maus family: a mouse in the first and fourthquarters.
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  Anthony Rota:rota means "wheel" in Latin
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  Edwin Forrest: Three trees and a treecrest (forest)
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  Arms of the Campdavaine branch of thecounts of Saint-Pol: a sheaf ofoats (Camp d'avaine meansfield of oats in that family'sPicard language [Champ d'avoine in Paris French]).

Municipal coats of arms which interpret the town's name in rebus form are also called canting. Here are a few examples.

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  The arms ofBerwickshire, Scotland:Bear andWych Elm
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  Elmbridge,Surrey (1974):elm tree on bridge. (The toponym is related to bridges but not to elms; the prefix refers toEmel, a former name for theriver Mole.^[4])
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  Châteaurenard:Château = castle;Renard = fox
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  Eberbach (1976):Eber = boar;Bach = brook (wavy blue fess)
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  The coat of arms of the village ofHensbroek in North Holland interprets the toponym as "hen-breeches" (the toponym is unrelated to either "hen" or "breeches", deriving from the personal nameHein and the Dutch cognate of "brook", i.e. "Henry's brook".)
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  Freixo de Espada à Cinta (1926):Freixo =ash (tree);de Espada = withsword;à Cinta = at the waist, inPortuguese
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  Falkenberg (1948):Falken = falcon;Berg = hill, inSwedish
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  Seinäjoki (1951):Finnish:seinä = wall,joki = river
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  Arms ofKontiolahti featuring abear (Finnish:karhu orkontio), carrying alog drivingpike pole referring to the importance offorestry in the region's economy^[5]
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  Berlin (1954):Bär = bear
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  City and canton ofBern:Bär = Bear
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  Manacor:man a cor = hand with heart, inCatalan^[6]
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  Torrevieja (1829):Torre = tower,vieja = old
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  Kryvyi Rih:Kryvyi = crooked,Rih = horn, inUkrainian
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  Rueda (1986):rueda = wheel inSpanish
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  Łódź: Łódź = boat
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  Wolfsburg: Wolf's Castle
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  Arms ofMagenta, France, feature abendsinister inmagenta, an extremely raretincture in heraldry
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  Örnsköldsvik (1894):örn = eagle,sköld = shield andvik = Bay.
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  Füssen:Füße = feet
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  Schaffhausen:Schaf = sheep,Haus = house
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  Steinhaus:Stein = stone,Haus = house
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  Schattendorf:Schatten = shadow,Dorf = village
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  Hadersdorf-Kammern:Hader = quarrel,Dorf = village
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  The arms ofDornbirn feature pears,Birn in German
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  The arms ofKotka feature an eagle (Finnish:kotka)
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  An example of canting arms outside Europe: theMalaysian city ofKuching features acat on its municipal coat of arms,kuc(h)ing being theMalay word for cat

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  The arms of theDiocese of Lansing: The lances crossed persaltire are a play on the name of the see, the city ofLansing, Michigan.^[7]
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  The arms of theDiocese of Rockville Centre: The mounds in the circle at the center of the arms are a play on the name of city in which the diocese is based,Rockville Centre, New York.^[8]
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  The arms of theDiocese of Baton Rouge: The shield features a red baton, referencing the city name,Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and its literal French meaning.
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  The arms of theDiocese of Buffalo: The arms feature anAmerican bison, colloquially called a buffalo, carrying a banner of the Cross of St. George (analogous to the heraldicLamb of God), referencing the name of city in which the see is based,Buffalo, New York.
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  The arms of theDiocese of Brownsville: The tincture of the field,tenné, is depicted as brown, referencing the seat of the diocese,Brownsville, Texas.
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  The arms of theDiocese of Phoenix: The arms feature aphoenix, the namesake of the diocesan seat,Phoenix, Arizona.
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  The arms of theDiocese of Fort Worth: The arms feature a castle, referencing the fort for which the city,Fort Worth, Texas, was named.
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  The arms of theArchdiocese of Anchorage: The anchor references the namesake of the see,Anchorage, Alaska.
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  The arms of theArchdiocese of Hartford: The arms feature ahart, a male deer, in the midst of flowing water, i.e.,fording a body of water, referencing the name of the see,Hartford, Connecticut.
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  The arms of theArchdiocese of Los Angeles: The arms feature three pairs of wings, denoting three angels, and referencing the namesake of the see,Los Angeles, California, which translates to "the angels."

On theHarry Potter film series, the coat of arms ofRavenclaw house atHogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry features araven, which also figures on the arms of the school. On theHarry Potter book series, however, the coat of arms of Ravenclaw depicts an eagle.

• Japanese rebus monogram

• Winifred Hall: Canting and Allusive Arms of England and Wales. 1966.ISBN 9780900023019

• "Meaning of Arms".Heraldica.org. 2001-06-20.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toCanting arms.

• Canting arms (Britannica)
• Canting arms – 100 armes parlantes (YouTube)

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