CANTING ARMS

Canting arms are armorial bearings that in their concept and design include some reference or allusion to the name of the bearer.

Direct connection - the arms show the literal meaning of the name 
 

Virgin for the Virgin Islands

Castle for  Castile

Bells for    Cloche (French)

Stag for Hirsch  ("deer" in German)

The linguistic connection may not be immediately obvious
 

Singh-lion, pura- city (represented by the tower).

Gotland - God's land, the Paschal Lamb is a symbol of Christ.

Barbados is named after the fig tree   Ficus Barbata.

 
 

The arms can be a pun on the name.

But sometimes  the arms come from a wrong interpretation of the name!

Hallebrade (battle axe, Halbred in Czech) for Bradejov.	Baden in German also means "to bath".	Lyon comes from Lugdunum, the Roman name of the city, not from lion.	Bern has   nothing to do   with "Baren"   ("bears" in   German).