盾形徽章的纹饰

家族盾形徽章

The family name LEDGER, like many others, would most likely have been taken from the first name of the original bearer's father.  This was one of the ways that family names were formed, and used by the individual families to distinguish themselves with pride and honor within their communities.  The word legere in Latin means "to read", and may or may not have any bearing on the origin of the Ledger name.  Since the name Ledger could indicate a scholarly or financial family background, it is entirely plausible, that the Ledger's originally received their titles and lands because of some financial service to the King.  This however, is conjecture on our part.

The LEDGER family not only held lands and estates in both France and England, but were actively allied with other influential families.  

There is some evidence to indicate that  references to the family name Ledger can be found as far back as the year 1192.  However, other reports document the Ledger name in ancient medieval  records

in Bourgogne in 1287.   The Bourgogne records indicate that the name is originally French.   With the Norman invasion of England, the Ledgers branched out.  

The first reference of the name Ledger in England is in  medieval documents in Kent, around 1404.   Once the family was established in England, Robert St. Leger was granted estates at Ulcombe and became Lord of the Manor of Ulcombe.  

Eventually they moved into the new world. (date unknown)  Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: John St. Ledger, who settled in Canada in 1841 and William St. Leger, who settled in New Orleans in 1823.

The Ledger family shield is a blue background with silver trellis work and a gold stripe at the top.  The BLUE  represents "Strength, Truth & Loyalty"; the frettwork or latticework represents "power of persuasion".  The GOLD represents "Generosity & Elevation of Mind".   The family motto is the French phrase "Haut et bon.", which means "high and good".

The family crest is a gold griffin. 

Spelling variations include: St. Leger, St. Ledger, Leger, Legere, Sallinger, Sellinger, and several others.  

All sources researched by this site indicate that Heath descends from Irish & Scottish origins. 
 
 翻译：

 跟其他很多家族一样，希斯家族的姓氏LEDGER，很可能来自于第一个使用这个姓氏的人的父名，这是常见的姓氏起源方式，不同的家族通过这种方式来确立自身的威望和家族自豪感，同时也与其他家族相区别。Legere这个词在拉丁文里意为“阅读”，与姓氏Ledger之间可能有关联，也可能没什么关系。鉴于Ledger这个姓某种程度上暗示了学者或财政背景，很有可能这个家族曾为国王提供财政方面的服务，从而获得了最早的土地和头衔，当然这只是我们单方面的推测。

LEDGER家族不仅在英国和法国都拥有土地，而且也与其他权势家族来往密切、互结同盟。有证据表明，Ledger这个姓氏可以一直追溯到1192的法国，其他研究也认为这个姓氏曾出现在中世纪的法国，据1287年法国勃艮第（著名的葡萄酒产区）的文献记载，这个姓氏起源于法国，其族人随着诺曼征服迁入英格兰，并在当地开枝散叶。

在英国Ledger这个姓氏首见于中世纪的肯特郡文献，大约在1404年左右。其后他们在英国也站稳了脚跟，Robert St. Legder 曾被授予Ulcombe的封地（现属英国肯特郡Maidstone自治镇）并获得了Ulcombe领主的称号。
 
最终Ledger家族把他们迁移的脚步迈向了美洲大陆（具体时间不详），最早的新大陆移民包括1841定居在加拿大的John St. Ledger和1823年定居于美国新奥尔良的William St. Leger。

Ledger家族的盾徽是蓝色背景上的格子篱笆架，顶端点缀着金色的条纹。蓝色象征着“力量、真理和忠诚”，格子纹饰象征着“信仰的力量”，金色则代表了“慷慨高尚的情操”。家族座右铭是法语的“Haut et bon”，意为“崇高而美好”，盔徽是一只金色的鹰首狮身怪兽“格律芬”（象征着智慧与力量的结合）。

该姓氏拼写的变种包括：St. Leger, St. Ledger, Leger, Legere, Sallinger, Sellinger等等。 

本网站（？）的所有资料表明，Heath是爱尔兰和苏格兰血统的后裔。

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说实话最后这个结论真有点儿突然，前面还说起源在法国，一下子就跳到爱尔兰和苏格兰了，一个比较牵强的解释是Ledger家族是转迁苏、爱的诺曼人后代。

诺曼人是维京人（著名的北欧海盗）的某个分支定居法国北部后繁衍的后裔，他们的聚居地诺曼底与文中提到的位于法国中部内陆的勃艮第还是有一定距离，但是据说诺曼人一度拥有半个法国，所以说勃艮第的Ledger家族是诺曼人也不是完全讲不通。1066年，诺曼底公爵征服者威廉挥军北上击败了其他王位争夺者成为英格兰的国王，在其后的几个世纪里陆续不断地把诺曼人迁入不列颠群岛加官进爵，影响一直延伸到北部的苏格兰和爱尔兰，这跟上文提到的时间也刚好对得上。麻烦的是文中提到的Ulcombe领主Robert St. Legder ，他的领地位于英格兰岛的最东南端，跟苏格兰和爱尔兰是无论如何也拉不上干系，所以这一套引人遐思的族徽与Heath Ledger到底有什么关系实在值得存疑，大概这种文章也不能太较真了，西方有一种古装言情小说，专门yy这个时期，好像西方妇女对苏格兰人也有些fantasy，大概因为他们传统上身材高大、性如烈火，却又憨直单纯，比较对她们的胃口~~~（Jenny,这么说你明白那啥啥是那啥啥了吧:-）