The surname of ARMS was an occupational name 'the armourer' one who made armour. A common medieval occupation. Early records of the name mention Armundus (without surname) listed as a tenant in the Domesday Book of 1086. Many of the early names recorded in medieval documents denote noble families but many also indicate migration from the continent during, and in the wake of, the Norman invasion of 1066. There was a constant stream of merchants, workmen and others arriving in England during this time. In 1086 the Record of Great Inquisition of lands of England, their extent, value, ownership and liabilities was made by order of William The Conqueror. It is known as the Domesday book. Other records of the name mention Gwydo le Armerer, who was recorded in County Oxford in the year 1185 and John Armourer who was documented in County Cambridge in the year of 1273. Guy de Armes of Yorkshire, was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379, and Thomas Larmer appears in County Lancashire in 1400. Over the centuries, most people in Europe have accepted their surname as a fact of life, as irrevocable as an act of God, however much the individual may have liked or disliked the surname, they were stuck with it, and people rarely changed them by personal choice. A more common form of variation was in fact involuntary, when an official change was made, in other words, a clerical error. Among the humbler classes of European society, and especially among illiterate people, individuals were willing to accept the mistakes of officials, clerks and priests as officially bestowing a new version of their surname, just as they had meekly accepted the surname they had been born with. In North America, the linguistic problems confronting immigration officials at Ellis Island in the 19th century were legendary as a prolific source of Anglicization. The name is also spelt Larmour and Lamour.

The associated arms are recorded in Sir Bernard Burkes General Armory. Ulster King of Arms in 1884.