Except they weren't invented for D&D, they were taken from a historical book about armor.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41676/41676-h/41676-h.htm
I know - and Gygax used a 1904 source for weapons, as I recall. He did do research, it's just his research sources from ca 1904-1909 were archaic even in 1974, and we know a lot more now.
At least for European armour:
Padded - padded linen gambeson was extremely common
Leather - didn't really exist, since padded was much better
Studded Leather - definitely didn't exist, misinterpretation of brigandine
Ringmail - didn't exist
Scalemail - scale existed in Roman times, not medieval, not very popular as too easy to attack 'up' against the scales & come in under them.
Chainmail - mail armour was very common until replaced by brigandine & plate
Splint & Banded - didn't exist as described, but coat-of-plates existed as a transitional armour to brigandine. Some non-European lamellar armours somewhat resemble the description of banded.
Platemail - plate & mail existed as a transitional to plate armour
I've bolded the armours that existed more or less as described.
Brigandine is the main historical medieval armour that is not listed, it should take the place of splintmail & banded in the AC chart. But it looks like leather with studs from the outside, the strips of metal are inside & not visible.
For a 15th century setting, roughly speaking:
Lower Class - Padded Gambeson
Middle Class - Brigandine
Upper Class - Plate
But some upper class might choose to wear Brigandine, while plate got cheaper and more common over time.