The ARMSTRONG surname in the USA

Frequency Comparisons
	Total	Rank	Frequency %	Per million people
United States
United States (Current snapshot)	129,982	204	0.048	482
United States (1880 census)	37,858	127	0.076	757
Change since 1880	+92124	-77	-0.028	-275
Other Countries
Australia	10,471	105	0.064	641
United Kingdom	37,226	121	0.081	811

Top States for ARMSTRONG by Total
State	Total	Rank in State	Frequency %	Per million people
Texas	11,032	209	0.053	529
California	10,660	274	0.031	315
Florida	7,316	231	0.046	458
Ohio	6,298	159	0.055	555
Michigan	5,546	141	0.056	558
Top States for ARMSTRONG by Frequency
State	Total	Rank in State	Frequency %	Per million people
Alabama	3,871	158	0.087	870
Mississippi	2,412	155	0.085	848
Oklahoma	2,875	118	0.083	833
Tennessee	4,569	157	0.080	803
Idaho	985	119	0.076	761

Notes

Total is the total number of people with that surname.
Rank is the position in the list of names ordered by total (eg, a rank of 1 means that it's the most common name, and a rank of 10 means it's the tenth most common, etc).
Frequency is the percentage of people with that surname.
Per million people is the number of people with that surname per million of the population.

'A figure of zero indicates that we don't have data for this name (usually because it's quite uncommon and our stats don't go down that far). It doesn't mean that there's no-one with that name at all!

For less common surnames, the figures get progressively less reliable the fewer holders of that name there are. This data is aggregated from several public lists, and some stats are interpolated from known values. The margin of error is well over 100% at the rarest end of the table!

For less common surnames, the frequency and "per million" values may be 0 even though there are people with that name. That's because they represent less than one in a million of the population, which ends up as 0 after rounding.

It's possible for a surname to gain in rank and/or total while being less common per million people (or vice versa) as there are now more surnames in the USA as a result of immigration. In mathematical terms, the tail has got longer, with a far larger number of less common surnames.

Figures for top states show firstly the states where most people called ARMSTRONG live. This obviously tends to be biased towards the most populous states. The second set of figures show where people called ARMSTRONG represent the biggest proportion of the population. So, in this case, there are more people called ARMSTRONG in Texas than any other state, but you are more likely to find a ARMSTRONG by picking someone at random in Alabama than anywhere else.

Classification and Origin of ARMSTRONG

Region of origin: British Isles

Country of origin: England

Language of origin: English

Ethnic origin: English

Religious origin: Christian

Data for religion and/or language relates to the culture in which the ARMSTRONG surname originated. It does not necessarily have any correlation with the language spoken, or religion practised, by the majority of current American citizens with that name.

Data for ethnic origin relates to the region and country in which the ARMSTRONG surname originated. It does not necessarily have any correlation with the ethnicity of the majority of current American citizens with that name.

Ethnic distribution of ARMSTRONG in the USA

Classification	Total	Percent
Asian/Pacific	611	0.47
White (Caucasian)	97,435	74.96
Black/African American	26,386	20.3
Mixed Race	2,132	1.64
White (Hispanic)	2,288	1.76
Native American/Alaskan	1,118	0.86

Ethnic distribution data shows the number and percentage of people with the ARMSTRONG surname who reported their ethnic background as being in these broad categories in the most recent national census.

Meaning of ARMSTRONG in historical publications

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 fail."

Arthur, William (1857) An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain.

ARMSTRONG. 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 fi'eebooter, lived in Eskdale ; while Liddesdale was another hahitat of the family.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.

Similar names to ARMSTRONG

The following names have similar spellings or pronunciations as ARMSTRONG.

This does not necessarily imply a direct relationship between the names, but may indicate names that could be mistaken for this one when written down or misheard.

Matches are generated automatically by a combination of Soundex, Metaphone and Levenshtein matching.