Here, as an example, are the arms and seals of four places named Worcester : one each in England, in Massachusetts USA and Maryland USA, and in the Western Cape, South Africa. Although they share the same name, their symbolism is very different.
ENGLAND — The city of Worcester in England is unusual in having a double coat of arms :
At one time, the sinister shield, depicting three black pears and a fess, was placed on the dexter shield as a canton.
The surrounding county of Worcestershire has its own arms, granted by the College of Arms in 1947. Here the black pears are depicted growing on a tree; the wavy bars represent the River Severn :
MASSACHUSETTS — The city of Worcester, named after the English city, has a non-armorial seal :
The surrounding Worcester County also has a non-armorial seal :
MARYLAND — Another Worcester County, named after Mary Somerset née Arundel, who was daughter-in-law of the 1st Marquess of Worcester and sister-in-law of Lord Baltimore, the original proprietor of Maryland. However, the county authority's seal does not depict the Somerset arms, but rather those of Calvert (Lord Baltimore's family) :
The coronet is evidently original : an English baron's coronet shows only four "pearls", not five.
WESTERN CAPE — The town of Worcester was named after a later Marquess of Worcester. By 1931, the town council had assumed "arms" which displayed the Somerset family's portcullis crest – torse and all – on a shield :
Proper arms were designed by Ivan Mitford-Barberton and H. Ellis Tomlinson, and assumed in 1948 :
The black and red quartered field was derived from the arms of Worcester in England; the hurts with fleurs de lis from the Cape provincial arms; the wavy line represented the Breede River.
The Divisional Council of Worcester (equivalent of a county council) took over the former municipal "arms". They were replaced with a new design, by Cornelis Pama, in 1973 :
The "bend dancetty Argent in the shape of the letter W" represented the Breede River, and was also W for Worcester. The latter symbolism fell away when the division was renamed "Matroosberg" in 1980.