Name and Coat of Arms
When the coat of arms was bestowed upon the town at the beginning of the 13th century, people wrongly believed that their town’s name, "Vorchheim" originates from the Old High German word vorhe (“trout”). This resulted in the coat of arms showing two trout (above). Although the rivers around the town were certainly home to a great number of trout in those days, it seems likelier that the town's name was actually derived from the Old High German word vorha (“pine”). Hence, the name means “pine home” with a probability bordering on certainty.
The name most likely originates in the 7th century, when Frankish settlers first ensconced themselves in the region. They established many riverside towns with names ending in –heim.
Read more about this topic: Forchheim
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