From the Breton/Welsh elements arth (bear) and mael (prince), meaning "bear prince."
Armel is a Breton name of Celtic origin, constructed from two ancient elements: arth, meaning bear, and mael, meaning prince or chief. Its full meaning — bear-prince or noble warrior — places it in the same family as Arthur (from the Celtic artos, bear) and a constellation of Celtic names ending in -mael, such as Caratmael and Judicael. The bear in Celtic tradition was a symbol of sovereignty, fierce protection, and the warrior class, making Armel a name weighted with heroic expectation from its earliest use in the ancient kingdoms of Brittany and Wales.
Saint Armel, known in Welsh as Arthmael, was a 6th-century monk of noble British origin who fled to Brittany during the turbulent migrations of Celtic peoples from Britain to the Armorican peninsula. He founded several monasteries in Brittany and is credited with miraculously subduing a great serpent or dragon — a hagiographic motif common to Celtic saints but told with particular local relish in Brittany, where the village of Saint-Armel near Rennes preserves his memory. He was also venerated in Cornwall and Wales, and unusually for a Breton saint, received some cultus in England, including a chapel at Windsor Castle.
Armel today is primarily a Breton given name, part of the remarkable cultural revival of Breton identity and language that accelerated in the late 20th century. Parents choosing Armel are often making a deliberate statement of regional pride, selecting a name that could not be from anywhere other than the Celtic Atlantic fringe. Outside Brittany it is rare, which gives it both the charm of the unfamiliar and the credibility of genuine historical depth, unmarred by trend cycles.