surnames.ie

Irish surname · 22nd most common in 1911

Moore

Also spelt O'Moore

Moore in Ireland has two main roots. Most Irish Moores descend from Ó Mórdha, 'descendant of Mórdha', the O'Mores who ruled Laois (Leix) from Dunamase until the Tudor plantations. Others carry an English or Anglo-Norman name meaning someone who lived by a moor or heath.

Irish Ó Mórdha · Ó MóraIrish de MóraIrish Ua Mórdha
1901 census
15,450
#22 · 35 per 10,000
1911 census
15,416
#22 · 35 per 10,000
1926 census
8,370
#57 · 28 per 10,000
Most numerous
Antrim
Highest share: Laois

Language & meaning

Meaning & Irish forms

Gaelic & English (merged) Gaelic Irish (Ó Mórdha of Laois) merged with an Anglo-Norman and English locative surname (de Móra, 'at the moor'), the two being impossible to tell apart by spelling.[1][2][3]

Ó Mórdha
Modern spelling: Ó Móra
“descendant of Mórdha”[1][4]
Woulfe's headword for the O'Mores of Laois. The Gaois surname database gives Ó Móra as the standard modern form and treats Ó Mórdha as historical.
de Móra
“of the moor”[2][5][3]
Woulfe's Irish form for the Anglo-Norman Moores, from Norman 'de la More' and Middle English 'atte Mor'. He also lists de Múra as a variant.
Ua Mórdha
“grandson or descendant of Mórdha”[6]
The older annalistic spelling, as in the death of Cernach Ua Mórdha recorded for 1018.

The name is built on the personal name Mórdha, usually explained as “majestic, stately”. Woulfe glosses Mórdha as 'majestic'; Wikipedia gives 'stately and noble'. The English Moore instead comes from Middle English mor, open land or bog.[1][3]

Pronunciation

Moore: MOOR or MOR

Place

Where the Moores lived

How common the name was in each county, as a share of the population, in the three surviving full censuses of Ireland. Use the buttons to compare years.

Donegal: 39.1 per 10,000 (659 people) Waterford: 30.5 per 10,000 (251 people) Dublin: 45.2 per 10,000 (2,172 people) Kilkenny: 43.6 per 10,000 (327 people) Carlow: 43.5 per 10,000 (158 people) Limerick: 25.3 per 10,000 (363 people) Louth: 39.5 per 10,000 (249 people) Tipperary: 19.5 per 10,000 (297 people) Roscommon: 13.8 per 10,000 (130 people) Meath: 38.6 per 10,000 (252 people) Wicklow: 45.9 per 10,000 (279 people) Cavan: 26.2 per 10,000 (239 people) Cork: 14.1 per 10,000 (555 people) Clare: 8 per 10,000 (84 people) Galway: 6.6 per 10,000 (120 people) Mayo: 12.4 per 10,000 (239 people) Sligo: 9.6 per 10,000 (76 people) Leitrim: 11.3 per 10,000 (71 people) Offaly: 33.4 per 10,000 (190 people) Laois: 99.6 per 10,000 (545 people) Kildare: 62.2 per 10,000 (416 people) Kerry: 20 per 10,000 (320 people) Monaghan: 37.5 per 10,000 (268 people) Wexford: 23.9 per 10,000 (245 people) Longford: 17.6 per 10,000 (77 people) Westmeath: 35.1 per 10,000 (211 people) Tyrone: 45.5 per 10,000 (650 people) Antrim: 59.1 per 10,000 (2,825 people) Armagh: 27.2 per 10,000 (325 people) Fermanagh: 38.9 per 10,000 (236 people) Londonderry: 67.8 per 10,000 (948 people) Down: 53.6 per 10,000 (1,639 people)
fewerup to 106 per 10,000

Share of each county's census population. 1926 covers the 26 counties of the Irish Free State only.

Highest concentration · 1911

Laois

100 per 10,000

545 Moores · 2.84× the national share

Highest share, 1911

  1. Laois 100
  2. Londonderry 68
  3. Kildare 62
  4. Antrim 59
  5. Down 54
  6. Wicklow 46
  7. Tyrone 46
  8. Dublin 45

Per 10,000 residents. A concentration index above 1 means the name was commoner there than nationally.

County figures as a table
County190119111926Per 10k 1901Per 10k 1911Per 10k 1926
Antrim2,8662,825—6359—
Armagh293325—2427—
Carlow151158176414451
Cavan247239219252627
Clare838476788
Cork542555427141412
Donegal621659604363940
Down1,6131,639—5654—
Dublin2,0972,1722,111484542
Fermanagh229236—3539—
Galway160120126878
Kerry357320326222022
Kildare390416401646269
Kilkenny339327330454447
Laois606545522106100102
Leitrim937168131112
Limerick360363394252528
Londonderry936948—6568—
Longford667767141817
Louth253249269394043
Mayo295239234151214
Meath255252218363935
Monaghan300268185403828
Offaly190190212323340
Roscommon138130133141416
Sligo7376619109
Tipperary301297299192021
Tyrone684650—4546—
Waterford229251255263133
Westmeath212211212343538
Wexford239245214232423
Wicklow232279231394641

Local strongholds in 1911

District Electoral Divisions (300+ residents) where Moores made up the largest share of the population. In Doe Castle, Co. Donegal, about one resident in 7 was a Moore.

DEDCountyMooresShare
Doe CastleDonegal66 13.7%
BrandonKerry57 8.6%
TurraLaois29 6.8%
The GrangeWicklow24 6.6%
DinnamagganKilkenny23 5.4%
Kilmeage, NorthKildare42 5.3%
AttanaghKilkenny33 5.2%
RathaspickLaois24 5.1%

Origins

Septs & territories

Many Irish surnames were adopted independently by unrelated families. These are the distinct Moore lineages described in the sources.

A surname can point you towards a place. On its own, it cannot establish a pedigree.

Ó Mórdha of Loígis (the O'Mores of Leix)

Loígis (Leix), the eastern and southern baronies of the later Queen's County · Laois

The leading family of the Loígis, a people who held western Leinster from early times and kept a line of kings there until 1608. Their stronghold was the Rock of Dunamase. Woulfe singles them out for the length of their resistance to English conquest, and the county is still nicknamed the O'Moore County. They headed the 'seven septs of Leix' named in English records of 1607.[1][6][7][8]

O'Mores of Balyna

Balyna, near Carbury and Johnstownbridge · Kildare

A branch of the Laois chiefs granted an estate at Balyna in 1574. Sir Rory O'Moore, a leader of the 1641 rising, was probably born there. The line later passed by marriage to the O'Ferralls, whose descendants took the name More O'Ferrall.[9][7][8]

de Móra (Anglo-Norman Moores)

parts of Munster and Connacht

Woulfe describes de Móra as an old Anglo-Norman surname, meaning someone living at a moor or heath, still found in parts of Munster and Connacht in his day. He warns that its English forms are indistinguishable from those of Ó Mórdha.[2][3]

Moore of Mellifont (Earls of Drogheda)

Mellifont and Drogheda · Louth

An English family from Benenden in Kent. Burke traces them to Thomas de la More of Moore Place, Kent, in the reign of Henry II. Sir Garrett Moore became Baron Moore of Mellifont in 1616, and his descendants were Earls (1661) and later Marquesses (1791) of Drogheda. Burke records a related line at Croghan, King's County, who became Earls of Charleville.[10][8]

Moores of Moore Hall

Carra, near Carnacon · Mayo

A Catholic landed family whose house, Moore Hall, was built about 1792–95 for the wine merchant George Moore. It produced John Moore, president of the short-lived Republic of Connacht in 1798, the politician George Henry Moore and the novelist George Moore. The house was burned in 1923 during the Civil War.[11][12]

The name over time

History

Two names behind one spelling

Moore is one of the clearest cases of an Irish and an English surname collapsing into a single spelling. The Gaelic Ó Mórdha, borne by the O'Mores of Laois, was written O'More, O'Moore, More and Moore. Alongside it, an Anglo-Norman name from a word for moor or heath, which Woulfe renders de Móra, had settled in Munster and Connacht. Later English settlers brought the same name again. Woulfe states plainly that the English forms of the two Irish names cannot be told apart, so an individual family's origin has to be traced through records rather than spelling.[1][2][3]

Kings of Loígis

The O'Mores were the ruling family of the Loígis, a people said to have come south from the Dál nAraidi of Ulster and to have been granted land in western Leinster for helping its king drive out a Munster army, an event provisionally dated to the 3rd century. The surname itself is much later. The Annals of the Four Masters record the killing of Cernach Ua Mórdha in 1018, and the Book of Leinster makes him a grandson of the Mórda who gave the family its name. From the 1400s the Rock of Dunamase, a former Norman stronghold, lay within O'More territory.[6][7][8]

Plantation and resistance

In 1556 an act under Mary I turned Laois and Offaly into Queen's County and King's County, dispossessing the O'Mores and beginning the plantations of Ireland. Rory Óg O'More spent the next two decades raiding the planters and the Pale. Around New Year 1577 many Laois and Offaly gentry were killed at a conference at Mullaghmast, and in reply Rory burned Naas. He was killed by the Fitzpatricks in June 1578. His son Owny led the clan again from about 1594, defeating the Earl of Essex at the Pass of the Plumes in 1599, but his death in 1600 ended the O'Mores as a major power.[13][14][15][1]

Transplantation to Kerry

Under an agreement of 1608 the leaders of the seven septs of Leix gave up their hereditary lands in exchange for grants in Co. Kerry. Woulfe dates the move to 1609 and says the remnant of the O'Mores was settled around Tarbert, on the Shannon estuary. Many drifted back to their own country, and Woulfe found the name well represented across Leinster in his time. A Kildare branch at Balyna, granted land in 1574, survived the upheaval. Its Sir Rory O'Moore was one of the four main organisers of the rising of October 1641.[6][1][16][9][7]

English Moores in Ireland

Several Moore families of English origin became prominent in Ireland. The best known descended from the Moores of Benenden in Kent. Sir Garrett Moore helped arrange Hugh O'Neill's submission at Mellifont in 1603, was made Baron Moore of Mellifont in 1616 and Viscount Moore of Drogheda in 1621, and his family later held the earldom and marquessate of Drogheda. The third earl gave his family names to Dublin's Henry Street, Moore Street and Earl Street. Burke records other branches in Louth, King's County and Cork.[10][8]

The Moores of Moore Hall

In Co. Mayo, a Catholic family built Moore Hall in Carra in the early 1790s. Its son John Moore was named president of the government of the province of Connacht in August 1798 by General Humbert, commander of the French landing, and died in December 1799. Later members of the family included George Henry Moore, a founder of the Tenant Right League and the Independent Irish Party in the 1850s, and his son George Moore, the novelist. The house was burned by anti-Treaty forces in 1923.[11][12]

Places linked to the name

  • Rock of Dunamase (Dún Másc), Co. Laois — Fortress on a rocky outcrop near Portlaoise, held by the O'Mores from the 1400s to the 16th century.[7][1]
  • Mullaghmast, Co. Kildare — Hill where Laois and Offaly gentry were massacred around New Year 1577, prompting Rory Óg O'More's reprisals.[13][15]
  • Tarbert (Tairbeart), Co. Kerry — District where Woulfe says the transplanted O'Mores were settled in 1609.[1][16]
  • Balyna, Co. Kildare — Estate granted to an O'More branch in 1574; probable birthplace of Sir Rory O'Moore.[9][8]
  • Mellifont, Co. Louth — Seat from which Sir Garrett Moore took his barony in 1616, ancestor of the Earls of Drogheda.[10]
  • Moore Hall, Co. Mayo — Ruined 1790s house in Carra, home of the Mayo Moores; burned in 1923.[11]

Everyday lives

The Moores in the census

Who the Moores were in the 1901 and 1911 censuses (and 1926 where recorded), set against everyone in Ireland in the same census.

Moores All of Ireland Ireland's figure marked on the Moore bar

Religion, 1911

Catholic −22.5 points vs Ireland
Moores 51.1%
All of Ireland 73.6%
Church of Ireland +8.6 points vs Ireland
Moores 21.8%
All of Ireland 13.2%
Presbyterian +11.3 points vs Ireland
Moores 21.4%
All of Ireland 10.1%
Methodist & other +2.5 points vs Ireland
Moores 5.6%
All of Ireland 3.1%

Irish language

Spoke Irish, 1901 −9.6 points vs Ireland
Moores 5.7%
All of Ireland 15.3%
Spoke Irish, 1911 −7.7 points vs Ireland
Moores 5.8%
All of Ireland 13.5%
Spoke Irish, 1926 · 26 counties −5.4 points vs Ireland
Moores 8.1%
All of Ireland 13.5%

142 Moores spoke Irish only in 1901.

Reading & writing

Could read and write, 1901 · aged 15+ +4.6 points vs Ireland
Moores 85.0%
All of Ireland 80.4%
Could read and write, 1911 · aged 15+ +3.2 points vs Ireland
Moores 89.0%
All of Ireland 85.8%

Family life, 1911

Household size · 3,319 households lower than Ireland
Moores 4.68
All of Ireland 4.83
Children born per mother · women 45–59 lower than Ireland
Moores 6.4
All of Ireland 6.46
Children still living about the same as Ireland
Moores 79.5%
All of Ireland 79.8%

Commonest occupations

Adults aged 15+, 1901 and 1911 combined.

Farmer2,190
Farmer's son1,005
Farmer's daughter544
General labourer521
Agricultural labourer488
Labourer357
House keeper347
Farm servant344
Seamstress265
Domestic servant235

Born outside Ireland

4.9% of Moores in 1911 gave a birthplace outside Ireland.

England577
Scotland108
United States36
India11
Wales7
Canada6

Median age: 25 in 1901, 26 in 1911.

Given names

First names among the Moores

Men and boys

  1. John2,365
  2. James1,913
  3. William1,572
  4. Thomas1,447
  5. Patrick1,205
  6. Michael835
  7. Robert664
  8. Joseph557
  9. Edward412
  10. Samuel392

Women and girls

  1. Mary2,465
  2. Margaret1,061
  3. Bridget848
  4. Annie773
  5. Elizabeth697
  6. Ellen690
  7. Catherine563
  8. Jane513
  9. Sarah505
  10. Anne412

All three censuses combined. Top five in 1926: John, James, Patrick, Thomas, Michael; Mary, Margaret, Bridget, Annie, Elizabeth.

Spellings

Spellings

This page combines the spellings below, which census enumerators and families used for the same name.

Spelling190119111926Records
Moore15,42715,3798,337Search
O'Moore233733Search

Related forms

  • O'More, O'Moore — The forms keeping the O, used by the Laois chiefs and their descendants.[1][3]
  • More — An older spelling of both the Irish and the Norman name.[1][2]
  • Morey — Woulfe and the Gaois database list Morey among the English forms of Ó Mórdha.[1][4]
  • de Mora — An Irish rendering of the Anglo-Norman name, distinct in origin from Ó Mórdha.[2][3]
  • More O'Ferrall — A double surname formed when the Balyna O'Mores passed by marriage to the O'Ferralls.[7][8]
  • Muir, Moar — Scottish and Manx forms that Wikipedia lists among the variations of the name.[3]

Diaspora

The Moores abroad

Emigration carried the name worldwide. In the 2010 United States census:

SpellingPeopleUS rank
Moore724,37418th

Source: US Census Bureau, 2010 surname file (public domain).

Heraldry

Is there a Moore coat of arms?

There is no single Moore coat of arms: arms belonged to particular families, and the Irish and English Moores are unrelated. Burke records for O'More, Lord of Leix, a gold lion rampant on green with three gold stars (mullets) above, a crest of a hand holding a sword through three severed heads, and the motto 'Conlan-a-bu'; the Cremorgan branch used 'Semper fidelis et audax'. For the English Moores of Benenden and Drogheda he gives quite different arms and the motto 'Fortis cadere, cedere non potest'.[8]

Websites selling a single “Moore family crest” are selling a design, not an inheritance. Arms in Ireland belonged to individuals and their heirs, and the Chief Herald of Ireland still grants arms that way today.

People

Notable people named Moore

  • Rory Óg O'More (c. 1544–1578)
    Lord of Laois who fought the Tudor plantation of the midlands for two decades.
  • Owny MacRory O'More (c. 1575–1600)
    Son of Rory Óg; defeated the Earl of Essex at the Pass of the Plumes in 1599.
  • Sir Rory O'Moore (c. 1600–1655)
    Kildare landowner and one of the four principal organisers of the 1641 rising.
  • John Moore (1763–1799)
    Mayo man named president of the Republic of Connacht by the French in 1798.
  • Thomas Moore (1779–1852)
    Dublin poet and lyricist, celebrated in his lifetime for his Irish Melodies.
  • George Henry Moore (1810–1870)
    Mayo MP and co-founder of the Tenant Right League and the Independent Irish Party.
  • George Moore (1852–1933)
    Novelist, critic and dramatist from the Moore Hall family of Co. Mayo.
  • Annie Moore (1874–1924)
    Irish emigrant, the first person processed through Ellis Island's immigration station.
  • Brian Moore (1921–1999)
    Belfast-born novelist who later lived in Canada and the United States.
  • Bobby Moore (1941–1993)
    English footballer who captained England to the 1966 World Cup.
  • Christy Moore (born 1945)
    Folk singer and songwriter, a founder of Planxty and Moving Hearts.

Questions

Questions about the Moore name

Is Moore an Irish or an English surname?

Both. In Ireland it usually stands for the Gaelic Ó Mórdha, the name of the O'Mores who ruled Laois. But Moore is also an English surname for someone living near a moor, and an Anglo-Norman form of it was established in Munster and Connacht in the Middle Ages. Woulfe notes that the spellings of the Irish and the Norman name cannot be told apart.[1][2][3]

What is Moore in Irish?

For the Laois family it is Ó Mórdha, 'descendant of Mórdha', a name Woulfe glosses as 'majestic'. The Gaois surname database gives Ó Móra as the usual modern spelling. For Moores of Anglo-Norman descent Woulfe gives de Móra, a rendering of 'de la More'.[1][2][4]

Are Moore, More and O'Moore the same name?

Usually, yes, in Ireland. O'More, O'Moore, More and Moore are all English spellings of Ó Mórdha recorded by Woulfe, and the Laois chiefs appear under all of them. The catch is that More and Moore can also be the unrelated English or Norman name, so the spelling alone does not settle a family's origin.[1][2]

Why is Laois called the O'Moore County?

Because the O'Mores ruled the territory of Loígis, from which Laois takes its name, for centuries before the Tudor conquest. Their fortress was the Rock of Dunamase. The nickname survives even though the family lost its lands after Laois was shired as Queen's County in 1556 and its leaders were moved to Kerry in 1608–09.[7][6][13][1]

Is there a Moore family crest or coat of arms?

Not one for every Moore. Burke records arms for O'More, Lord of Leix, a gold lion on green beneath three stars, with the motto 'Conlan-a-bu', and other mottoes for branches at Cremorgan and Balyna. The English Moores of Drogheda bore entirely different arms. A coat of arms belongs to a particular family line.[8]

How do you pronounce Moore?

Usually like 'moor'. Wiktionary records several accents: /mʊə/ or /mɔː/ in British English depending on the speaker (the second sounding like 'more'), /mʊɹ/ in American English and a Scottish form close to 'mure'. All are the same name.[17]

Where in Ireland is the Moore surname most common?

In the 1911 census the largest numbers of Moores lived in Antrim (2,825), Dublin (2,172), Down (1,639). Relative to population, the name was most concentrated in Laois (100 per 10,000), Londonderry (68 per 10,000), Kildare (62 per 10,000).

How common was the Moore surname in Ireland?

15,416 people were recorded as Moore or O'Moore in the 1911 census of Ireland, making it the 22nd most common surname. That is roughly 0.4% of the population, or 1 person in 285.

Looking for a Moore ancestor?

Search every Moore household in the 1901, 1911 and 1926 censuses, with free images of the original forms.

Search records on irishcensus.com

Evidence

Sources

  1. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Mórdha, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  2. Patrick Woulfe, de Móra, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  3. Wikipedia, Moore (surname) (2026)
  4. Gaois research group, Dublin City University, Sloinnte (Irish surnames corpus), cluster 'Mórdha' (2022)
  5. Patrick Woulfe, de Múra, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  6. Wikipedia, Loígis (2026)
  7. Wikipedia, Dunamase (2026)
  8. Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884). Entries 'O'More' (Lord of Leix, Balyna, Cremorgan, Ballynakill) and 'Moore' (Benenden, Drogheda, Croghan, Louth).
  9. Wikipedia, Rory O'Moore (2026)
  10. Wikipedia, Earl of Drogheda (2026)
  11. Wikipedia, Moore Hall, County Mayo (2026)
  12. Wikipedia, John Moore (Irish politician) (2026)
  13. Wikipedia, Rory O'More (2026)
  14. Wikipedia, Owny MacRory O'More (2026)
  15. Wikipedia, Mullaghmast (2026)
  16. Wikipedia, Tarbert, County Kerry (2026)
  17. Wiktionary, Moore (2026)
  18. Census of Ireland 1901 and 1911, and Census of Population 1926, National Archives of Ireland. Counts compiled by surnames.ie from the irishcensus.com transcription (dataset 20260831130351). 1926 data © National Archives of Ireland, CC BY 4.0.

How we compile these figures: methodology.