Redorer son blason
Redorer son blason (literally "to re-gild one's coat of arms") was a social practice taking place in France before the French Revolution, whereby a poor aristocratic family married a daughter to a rich commoner. This enabled the aristocratic family to recover financially through the hefty bride price usually asked from the commoner. On the other hand, the commoner was allowed to add the aristocratic name of his bride (with the nobiliary particle "de") to his own family name, and this was dearly sought. This social practice was frowned upon by aristocratic families less in need, who looked with contempt or pity at the aristocratic families that had to re-gild their coat of arms. They called such an alliance with a commoner a mésalliance ("misalliance, marriage beneath one's station"), and the practice was often called déchoir ("to fall from rank") or salir son blason ("to dirty one's coat of arms"). As in most of Europe, noble children who married commoners would lose their noble status and take on that of their spouses. In the worst-case scenario, if the poor aristocratic family died out with no other heir than the daughter married to the commoner, the family was said to "fall into