The first coat of arms of a member of the Washington family is first documented in the 14th century, borne by one of the male Washington family members of Washington Old Hall in County Durham, England.
The design (three red stars over two horizontal red bars on a white field) has been used since 1938 as the basis for the coat of arms and flag of the District of Columbia. It is also found on the Purple Heart, a US medal for wounded soldiers.
The flag of Washington, D.C., consists of three red stars above two red bars on a white background. It is an armorial banner based on the coat of arms granted to Lawrence Washington (George Washington's 3rd great-grandfather) of Sulgrave Manor Northamptonshire, England, in 1592. This coat of arms was used privately by the president in his home at Mount Vernon. In heraldry, the stars are called mullets and the coat of arms is blazoned as argent two bars gules, in chief three mullets of the second.
In 1938, the District Flag Commission was created by an Act of Congress "to procure a design for a distinctive flag for the District of Columbia". The District Flag Commission was composed of three non-elected federally-appointed members: the president of the Board of Commissioners, the secretary of war and the secretary of the Navy. The flag was selected by the commission with the help of the Commission of Fine Arts. Since no local group was involved in the selection process, Washingtonians saw the flag as a symbol of their lack of representation. More recently, it has been embraced by most DC residents and businesses, as well as the DC Statehood Movement as a symbol of their local identity in the 21st century.
View the full Wikipedia page for Flag of Washington, D.C.In heraldry, the term star may refer to any star-shaped charge with any number of rays, which may appear straight or wavy, and may or may not be pierced. While there has been much confusion between the two due to their similar shape, a star with straight-sided rays is usually called a mullet in English heraldry, while one with wavy rays is usually called an estoile.
While a mullet may have any number of points, it is presumed to have five unless otherwise specified in the blazon, and pierced mullets are common; estoiles, however, are presumed to have six rays and (as of 1909) had not been found pierced. In Scottish heraldry, an estoile is the same as in English heraldry, but mullet refers only to a mullet pierced (also called a spur revel), while one that is not pierced is called a star.
View the full Wikipedia page for Star (heraldry)