First found in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire in the south of England. The L'Argent family was granted lands in this county from Duke William for its assistance in the Battle of Hastings in 1066, and held estates there from this early time. The earliest records of the name in Britain date back to 1180, when Geoffrey Argent was listed in the Pipe Rolls of Northamptonshire.

Faced with the chaos present in England at that time, many English families looked towards the open frontiers of the New World with its opportunities to escape oppression and starvation. People migrated to North America, as well as Australia and Ireland in droves, paying exorbitant rates for passages in cramped, unsafe ships. Many of the settlers did not make the long passage alive, but those who did see the shores of North America were welcomed with great opportunity. Many of the families that came from England went on to make essential contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. Some of the first immigrants to cross the Atlantic and come to North America carried the name L'Argent, or a variant listed above: William Argent, who settled in Charles Town [Charleston], South Carolina in 1672; Sarah Argent, who settled in Maryland in 1678; George Argent, who settled in North Carolina in 1736.

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