This surname is derived from a nickname. 'arm-strong'; compare Strongitharm. The name of a familiar Border clan.

'Ye need not go to Liddisdale.

For when they see the blazing bale

Elliots and Armstrongs never fail.'

This surname has ramified very strongly in the States and in Canada.

William Armestrange, Cumberland, 23 Edward I. Calendarium Genealogicum: Henry III-Edward I.

Eckie Armstrong, 1615: Household Books of Howard of Naworth Castle.

1627. Michael Jermyn and Frances Armestrong: Marriage Lic. (London).

This well-known Border surname, the Norman Fartenbras, is an instance of a samame assumed from a personal attribute- strength of arm. The name was not uncommon in the north of England in the latter half of the thirteenth century, and at a later period the Armstrongs were a numerous and warlike clan in Liddesdale and the Debateable Land. Adam Armstrong was pardoned at Carlisle in 1235 for causing the death of another man (Bain, I, 1243), and William Armestrangh' served on an inquisition in the same city in 1274 (ibid., II, 24). In 1328 there is entry of payment of the king's debt to William Armestrang, and in 1342 Richard Harmestrang made a loan to King David II at Calais (ER., I, p. 116,506). Gubert Armstrong, steward of the household of David 11 was ambassador to England in 1363 (APS., I, p. 493). Another Gilbert Armestrang, canon of Moray in 1365, appears again as a witness in 1366 (REM., p. 37; REA., II, p. 58). Alexander Annystrang, Geflrai Armestrang, and Davy Armystrang appear as "borowis" for the earl of Douglas's bounds of the West March in 1398 (Bain, IV, 512). Armstrong of Gilnockie, a noted freebooter, was executed by James v in 1529, and the injustice of this action formed the theme of several popular ballads. Archie Armstrong was the famous jester of James VI; Kinmont Willie, also celebrated in Border ballads, and Christie's Will, both noted freebooters, were also Armstrongs. Mr. Robert Bruce Armstrong in his History of Liddesdale (p. 175) gives twenty-four variants of this name in the singular and twenty-one in the plural. In common speech the name is pronounced Armstrang.

(English) Strong-in-the-Arm. [Middle English arm(e)strang, Old English e)arm-strang.] Adam le Armstrang.— Calendarium Rotulorum Originalium

An English name often used as the anglicized form of Lavery and Traynor, q.v. IF 213,278; MIF 282*

“Strong in the Arm”, (Earm - Strang) in Old English. Compare French version “Fortinbras” in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”.

(English, Scottish) The strong-armed man.

Doubtless from strength of limb, as displayed in war and athletic sports. Armstrang is the same, and Strongi'th'arm, a cognate surname. The well-known border clan of Armstrong were of old a truly armipotent race, and Johnnie A., their chief, the great freebooter, lived in Eskdale; while Liddesdale was another habitat of the family.

The Armstrongs derive their surname from the following circumstance: an ancient king of Scotland having his horse killed under him in battle, was immediately remounted by Fairbairn his armor-bearer. For this timely assistance the king amply rewarded him with lands on the borders, and to perpetuate the memory of so important a service, as well as the manner in which it was performed (for Fairbairn took the king by the thigh and set him on his saddle), his royal master gave him the appellation of Armstrang, and assigned him for a crest, an armed hand and arm, in the left hand a leg and foot in armor, couped at the thigh, all proper. The chief of the clan in the early part of the sixteenth century was John Armstrong of Gilnockie; he was hung as a freebooter by James V, in 1529. The family have always been noted for their courage and daring. In the Lay of the Last Minstrel, the chief when about to assemble his clans, says to the heralds,

"Ye need not go to Liddisdale,

For when they see the blazing bale

Elliots and Armstrongs never fail."

A name given for strength in battle. Historians relate the following tradition:

This family was anciently settled on the Scottish border; their original name was Fairbairn, which was changed to Armstrong on the following occasion:

An ancient king of Scotland having had his horse killed under him in battle, was immediately re—mounted by Fairbairn, his armor—bearer, on his own horse. For this timely assistance he amply rewarded him with lands on the borders, and to perpetuate the memory of so important a service, as well as the manner in which it was performed (for Fairbairn took the king by the thigh, and set him on the saddle), his royal master gave him the appellation of Armstrong. The chief seat of Johnnie Armstrong was Gilnockie, in Eskdale, a place of exquisite beauty. Johnnie was executed by order of James V., in 1529, as a "Border Freebooter."Andrew Armstrong sold his patrimony to one of his kinsmen, and emigrated to the north of Ireland in the commencement of the seventeenth century. The Armstrongs were always noted for their courage and daring. In the "Lay of the Last Minstrel,"when the chief was about to assemble his clans, he says to his heralds:

"Ye need not go to Liddisdale,

For when they see the blazing bale Elliots and Armstrongs never fait."

From Armston; a location name in Northamptonshire (?) Or from the Irish Lamb Laidir (strong arm); a nickname.

The Armstrongs are referred to under Northumberland Backhouse was the name of the mayors of Carlisle in 1738, 1744, 1748, and 1758 (J.). The Bainbridges of Westmoreland have their present home in the district of Burton - in - Kendal. In the reign of Henry VIII., Arthur Bainbrigge had a grant of land in Westmoreland of the value of £4,000 per annum (Glover's "Derbyshire").

The Armstrongs, a well - known border clan, had two homes, one on each side of the border, namely, at Eskdale, in Cumberland, and at Liddisdale, in Roxburghshire (L.). Their great home in the north of England is in the Haltwhistle district, in Northumberland, but they are also well represented in Cumberland, and occur in fair numbers in the county of Durham. Newcastle has known the name for some 300 years (B.). The name is established still in the Scottish border counties, especially in Dumfriesshire. The small colony of Armstrongs in the south of England, especially in Kent, may require a different origin.