Murphy

Murphy (/ˈmɜːrfi/) is an Irish surname.

For other uses, see Murphy (disambiguation).

Murphy
Language(s)Irish
Origin
MeaningSea Warrior
Region of originIreland
Other names
Variant form(s)Murchadh, Murphey, MacMurphy, Morphy, O'Morchoe, O'Murphy, Ó Murchú, Murpy, Murphree

Origins and variants

The surname is a variant of two Irish surnames: "Ó Murchadha"/"Ó Murchadh" (descendant of "Murchadh"), and "Mac Murchaidh"/"Mac Murchadh" (son of "Murchadh")[1] derived from the Irish personal name "Murchadh", which meant sea-warrior or sea-battler[2] (muir meaning sea and cath meaning battle).[3]

Murchadh is reported to have been gripped with a boiling awful rage, an extreme elevation and greatness of spirit and intellect when he joined the middle of the action and prepared to assail the foreign invaders, the Danes, after they had repulsed the Dal-Cais. A gallantry and championship bird rose inside him and fluttered above his head and on his breath.[4]

In modern Irish, "Ó Murchú", rather than "Ó Murchadha", is used.

"Murphy" is the most common surname in Ireland, the fourteenth most common surname in Northern Ireland, and the fifty-eighth most common surname in the United States.[5]

People with the surname

Men

Women

Fictional characters

See also

References
  1. Brewer, Paul (2002). Ireland: History, People, Culture. Running Press. p. 351. ISBN 0-7624-1269-0.
  2. MacLysaght, Edward (1991). The Surnames of Ireland. Irish Academic Press. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-7165-2366-6.
  3. Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A Dictionary of First Names, Oxford Paperback Reference (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 352, 406, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1
  4. Hennessey, W M (28 September 2020). The Ancient Irish Goddess of War. Library of Alexandria. p. 307. ISBN 978-1-6131-0276-3.
  5. "Genealogy Data: Frequently Occurring Surnames from Census 2000". Census.gov. Archived from the original on 21 December 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2012.


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