Armstrong

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A distinguished surname connected to a celebrated astronaut recognized for lunar exploration
2. A family name held by various prominent people ; a unit that measures X-ray wavelength equal to 10^-10 meters
3. A last name associated with distinguished persons throughout history ; a metric used to quantify the wavelength scale in X-ray science

Etymology: Armstrong is a surname built from two plain English words, "arm" and "strong," and the surname has a real history of its own. Its meaning is transparent: it reads as "strong arm," probably a name given to someone known for physical strength, though the surname itself is older than any famous bearer of it. The best-known bearer is Neil Armstrong, the American astronaut who became the first person to walk on the Moon. That fame has made the name a byword for the lunar landing, so people now hear it first as a reference to him rather than as an ordinary family name. Elsewhere the name is attached to places. The rural municipality in Manitoba, Canada, is named after the politician James William Armstrong, who lived from 1860 to 1928. In that case the name points to a local figure rather than to the astronaut, showing how one surname can serve several different namesakes.