Armstrong (surname) 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"). Clan Armstrong is a clan from the border area between England and Scotland. 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. In the UK this surname is
Surname as well as "FitzWilliam" or "Fitzwilliam". Irish surnames are the oldest surnames in Europe. The common prefixes "Ó" and "Mac" can be spelled with the prefix as a separate word, yielding "Ó Briain" or "Mac Millan" as well as the anglicized "O'Brien" and "MacMillan" or "Macmillan". In the United States, 1,712 surnames cover 50% of the population, and about 1% of the population has the surname Smith, which is also the most frequent English name and an occupational name ("metal worker"), a contraction, for instance, of blacksmith or other metalsmiths. Several American surnames are a result of corruptions or phonetic