Gry • v • eken

From the Swedish word "gry" the first part of the name refers to the sun rising in the morning. This symbolises hope, that things are starting to get brighter or are starting to develop. The Swedish word "ek" translates to oak and "eken" translates into "the oak". The oak symbolises stability and longivity as the oaktree is known to reach 1000 years of age. In celtic ages in Europe the oak was concidered holy and was used in various ceremonies. The oakleafs holds the meaning of honor and has even in modern times been used to represent higher ranks in organisations such as the military. The "v" has been adopted to symbolise the shield that carries the rising sun and the oak, creating the name Gryveken. The sun that rises over the oak.

About the coat of arms About our heritage

Ancestry

The crest originally displayed a more crude rendition of an oaktree with exaggerated leafs and sun to emphasize the components of the shield. After some time a crown was added that featured the same tree found on the shield.

Read on the heritage found in DNA tests >

Modernization

The coat of arms today has been updated to a more modern design language while still keeping true to it's origins. The tree has evolved to a silhouette of an oaktree instead and the crest has wings of oakleafs to substantiate that the tree is an oak. The sun is blended into the background of the shield and the crown has been updated with the more modern tree and has also recieved the family name "Gryveken" written across it. The crest now have a banner, with the name "Gryveken" written on it.

Variations >

Variations on the Coat of arms

The base

Basic naked shield with just the tree and the sun. This is the minimum requirements that are accepted to use.

With a crown

The base with a crown. This adds a sense of nobility.

With a banner

The base with the namebanner. This is mostly used when simplicity is wanted but the name Gryveken is desired in the graphic.

With the leafs

The base with the leafs on the sides. This version accentuates that the tree is a oak. Leafs also represent honor.

With leafs and the crown

This version is used a lot because of the nice astethics. It has most of the features of the complete shield with exeption to the namebanner

With leafs and the banner

In some cases it's prefered to use a version without the crown and the namebanner instead, to still display the name Gryveken.

The complete coat of arms

The complete coat of arms is the most used variant. It has all of the components and has a well rounded appearance that is suitable in most of the cases.