Armstrong (surname)

Armstrong is a surname of Scottish borders origin. It derives from a Middle English nickname which meant someone with strong arms. In Ireland the name was adopted as an Anglicization of two Gaelic names from Ulster: Mac Thréinfhir (meaning "son of the strong man") and Ó Labhraidh Tréan (meaning "strong O'Lavery").[1] Clan Armstrong is a clan from the border area between England and Scotland.[2] The Scottish Armstrong is reputed to have been originally bestowed by "an antient (sic) king of Scotland" upon "Fairbairn, his armour-bearer" following an act of strength in battle.[3] In the UK this surname is well represented in North East England, Cumbria, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Scottish Borders, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, Dumfries & Galloway, and Northern Ireland, and in the US it is well represented in the Deep South, and other southern states.

Armstrong
Origin
MeaningSon of a strong man
Region of originNorth East England, Scotland, Ireland

From the name Ó Labhraidh Tréan (meaning "strong O'Lavery" and sometimes written in Anglo-Irish as "Tréanlámagh") the following surnames survive: "Trainor", Traynor", O'Lavery", "McLavery", and "MacLavery". Although the name "Armstrong" is quite common in the Aghagallon and Glenavy area of County Antrim in Northern Ireland, the other names are to be found within the nine Ulster Counties and Scotland, especially along the west coast.

Real people

Disambiguation of common names with this surname

Arts and letters

Politics and government

Religion

Science and technology

Sports

Other

Fictional people

References

  1. "Dictionary of American Family Names". Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2011-06-17.
  2. Dobson, David (2003), The Scottish Surnames of Colonial America (Google Book), Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, pp. 4–5, ISBN 0-8063-5209-4, OCLC 52732092, retrieved 1 Jan 2012
    Additional OCLC records exist for same book.
  3. Lower, Mark Antony (1844), "Historical Surnames", Essays on family nomenclature, historical, etymological and humorous: with chapters of rebuses and canting arms, the roll of Battel abbey, a list of latinized surnames, &c., &c. (Google Book), Essays on English Surnames (2nd ed.), London: John Russell Smith, p. 212, OCLC 674415725, retrieved 1 Jan 2012
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