Arris means "white lands" or "lion cub" in the Chaoui Berber language spoken in the Aurès Mountains.

The ethnologists Thérèse Rivière[fr] and Germaine Tillion, who spent much time in the Aurès region from 1934 to 1940, make reference to Arris in the 1930s in their articles and reports regarding the Aurès:[11] Connected to Batna by a route with a regular bus line, the city contained a clinic and a primary school, but no business.

One of the nine founders of the National Liberation Front (FLN) in October 1954, Mostefa Ben Boulaïd was born to a notable family in Arris.

Militant in the Algerian People's Party (PPA), then in the Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties (MTLD), he was in charge of the Aurès zone from October 1954 until his death in March 1956; his immediate successor was his brother, Omar Ben Boulaïd.

On June 28, 1956, during the French government's administrative reorganization of Algeria, Batna became a prefecture and Arris a sub-prefecture; several douars became communes: Bouzina, Chir, Kimmel, M'chouneche, Menaa, Oulach, Tadjmout et Tighanimine.