This surname AMBRUS was originally derived from the Old Latin name Ambrosius, a name meaning, divine, immortal. Early records of the name mention Ambrosius (without surname) in County Norfolk, 1168. Henry Ambreis was recorded in the County of Oxford in the year 1279. William Ambroys was documented in the year 1332, in County Sussex. Henry Ambreis of Yorkshire, was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. Johane, daughter of William Ambrose was baptised at St. James's, Clerkenwell, London in the year 1567. Joseph Mottram and Ambrosia Ambrose, were married at St. George's, Hanover Square, London in 1729. The name was taken early to Ireland by settlers from England where it is rendered in Gaelic as Mac Ambrois. The name has been mainly associated with West Munster since the fourteenth century, and it still well known in Cos. Cork and Limerick. Earlier they were in County Wexford where Ambrostown was named after them. Ireland was one of the earliest countries to evolve a system of hereditary surnames. They came into being fairly generally in the 11th century, and indeed a few were formed before the year 1000. The names introduced into Britain by the Normans during and in the wake of the Invasion of 1066, are nearly all territorial in origin. The followers of William the Conqueror were a pretty mixed lot, and while some of them brought the names of their castles and villages in Normandy with them, many were adventurers of different nationalities attached to William's standard by the hope of plunder, and possessing no family or territorial names of their own. Those of them who acquired lands in England were called by their manors, while others took the name of the offices they held or the military titles given to them, and sometimes, a younger son of a Norman landowner, on receiving a grant of land in his new home dropped his paternal name and adopted that of his newly acquired property. The associated coat of arms is recorded in Sir Bernard Burkes General Armory. Ulster King of Arms in 1884.