surnames.ie

Irish surname · 1st most common in 1911

Murphy

Also spelt Murphey, O Murphy

Murphy is an Irish surname from Ó Murchadha, 'descendant of Murchadh', and sometimes Mac Murchadha, 'son of Murchadh'. Murchadh was a common personal name meaning sea-warrior, so several unrelated families took it, most notably in Wexford, Tyrone, Sligo and Roscommon.

Irish Ó Murchadha · Ó MurchúIrish Mac Murchadha · Mac MurchúIrish Mac Murchaidh
1901 census
56,791
#1 · 128 per 10,000
1911 census
55,969
#1 · 128 per 10,000
1926 census
49,075
#1 · 166 per 10,000
Most numerous
Cork
Highest share: Wexford

Language & meaning

Meaning & Irish forms

Gaelic Gaelic Irish: several distinct families, each descended from a different man named Murchadh, in Leinster, Ulster and Connacht.[1][2]

Ó Murchadha
Modern spelling: Ó Murchú
“descendant of Murchadh”[1][3][4]
The usual source of Murphy. Woulfe records older anglicised spellings such as O Morchowe and O Morphy, and the forms O'Murphy, Murchoe and Morphy.
Mac Murchadha
Modern spelling: Mac Murchú
“son of Murchadh”[2][3]
The name of three separate families in Leinster, Ulster and Connacht. Murphy is one of its anglicised forms, alongside MacMurrough and Morrow.
Mac Murchaidh
“son of Murchadh”[5][3]
Woulfe treats this as a variant of the Ulster Mac Murchadha; it is also anglicised MacMurchy and Murchison.

The name is built on the personal name Murchadh, usually explained as “sea-warrior”. Wiktionary derives it from Old Irish Muircath, from muir 'sea' and cath 'battle'. Woulfe calls it a very common Irish personal name, which is why the surname arose in several places independently.[1][2][6]

Pronunciation

Murphy: MUR-fee

Place

Where the Murphys 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: 13.7 per 10,000 (231 people) Waterford: 156.4 per 10,000 (1,288 people) Dublin: 128.3 per 10,000 (6,160 people) Kilkenny: 249.2 per 10,000 (1,871 people) Carlow: 402.4 per 10,000 (1,462 people) Limerick: 109.9 per 10,000 (1,575 people) Louth: 182.6 per 10,000 (1,150 people) Tipperary: 86.1 per 10,000 (1,314 people) Roscommon: 33.3 per 10,000 (313 people) Meath: 56.3 per 10,000 (367 people) Wicklow: 190.2 per 10,000 (1,157 people) Cavan: 42.6 per 10,000 (389 people) Cork: 358.8 per 10,000 (14,107 people) Clare: 92.7 per 10,000 (968 people) Galway: 80.5 per 10,000 (1,468 people) Mayo: 116.9 per 10,000 (2,246 people) Sligo: 49 per 10,000 (388 people) Leitrim: 49 per 10,000 (309 people) Offaly: 66.9 per 10,000 (381 people) Laois: 100.3 per 10,000 (549 people) Kildare: 157 per 10,000 (1,050 people) Kerry: 241.2 per 10,000 (3,856 people) Monaghan: 109.6 per 10,000 (784 people) Wexford: 529.9 per 10,000 (5,426 people) Longford: 94.5 per 10,000 (414 people) Westmeath: 54 per 10,000 (325 people) Tyrone: 30.2 per 10,000 (432 people) Antrim: 38.2 per 10,000 (1,824 people) Armagh: 124.9 per 10,000 (1,494 people) Fermanagh: 98.2 per 10,000 (596 people) Londonderry: 25.9 per 10,000 (362 people) Down: 56 per 10,000 (1,713 people)
fewerup to 550 per 10,000

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

Highest concentration · 1911

Wexford

530 per 10,000

5,426 Murphys · 4.16× the national share

Highest share, 1911

  1. Wexford 530
  2. Carlow 402
  3. Cork 359
  4. Kilkenny 249
  5. Kerry 241
  6. Wicklow 190
  7. Louth 183
  8. Kildare 157

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
Antrim1,7671,824—3938—
Armagh1,7151,494—137125—
Carlow1,5891,4621,287427402375
Cavan359389335374341
Clare1,0149689729093102
Cork14,47714,10713,694361359376
Donegal183231273111418
Down1,7161,713—5956—
Dublin5,7956,1607,144132128143
Fermanagh632596—9898—
Galway1,6001,4681,471838187
Kerry3,8613,8563,572233241240
Kildare9361,0501,028153157178
Kilkenny1,9421,8711,829258249259
Laois54854953096100103
Leitrim316309274464948
Limerick1,6181,5751,758110110126
Londonderry392362—2726—
Longford448414371969593
Louth1,2661,1501,187194183190
Mayo2,2722,2462,129115117123
Meath404367365585658
Monaghan895784758120110117
Offaly385381377646772
Roscommon320313281323334
Sligo388388322484945
Tipperary1,2681,3141,243798689
Tyrone440432—2930—
Waterford1,2861,2881,175147156151
Westmeath348325331565459
Wexford5,5085,4265,236530530550
Wicklow1,1031,1571,133184190199

Local strongholds in 1911

District Electoral Divisions (300+ residents) where Murphys made up the largest share of the population. In Ardcolm, Co. Wexford, about one resident in 5 was a Murphy.

DEDCountyMurphysShare
ArdcolmWexford140 20.2%
DanesfortKilkenny58 16.6%
Clonfert EastCork119 16.3%
WarrenscourtCork137 15.7%
MeenaCork186 15.2%
WilliamstownCork110 14.7%
BallymoonCarlow44 14.6%
ArdcavanWexford129 14.3%

Origins

Septs & territories

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

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

Ó Murchadha of Uí Feilme (O'Morchoe)

Uí Feilme, the barony of Ballaghkeen · Wexford

A branch of the Uí Ceinnsealaigh of Leinster who ruled Uí Feilme in east Wexford and remained a distinct clan into the early 1600s, according to Woulfe. O'Hart calls their chiefs O'Morchoe and names their seats as Castle Ellis, Oulartleigh and Toberlumny. Woulfe says this family had become very numerous throughout Leinster.[1][7]

Ó Murchadha of Síol Aodha

Síol Aodha · Tyrone

A family of the Cenél nEógain who were chiefs of Síol Aodha, in what is now County Tyrone. Woulfe gives no further detail on them.[1]

Ó Murchadha of the Uí Fiachrach

southern shore of Sligo Bay (parishes of Skreen and Templeboy) · Sligo

A family of the Uí Fiachrach who ruled a district on the south side of Sligo Bay. Woulfe records that they were dispossessed and scattered in the 13th century.[1]

Mac Murchadha of Muinntear Birn

Muinntear Birn · Tyrone

An Ulster family seated in Tyrone, numerous there at the end of the 16th century. Woulfe believed Murphy was the usual anglicised form of this name in many cases, and treats Mac Murchaidh as a variant of it.[2][5]

Mac Murchadha of Clann Tomaltaigh

Clann Tomaltaigh · Roscommon

A Connacht family of the same Irish name, seated in County Roscommon. Woulfe records nothing more about them.[2]

Mac Murchadha of Leinster (MacMurrough)

Leinster · Carlow, Wexford

The MacMurroughs took their name from Murchadh, grandfather of Dermot MacMurrough, and were long the leading family of Leinster. From Dermot's son Domhnall Caomhánach they took the surname Kavanagh, the name they have used for centuries; Woulfe places their patrimony in Carlow and Wexford. They are a related line rather than a main source of Murphy.[2][8][9]

Murphys of Muskerry

Muskerry, between Cork and Macroom on the north side of the Lee · Cork

O'Hart associates a Murphy family with Muskerry and says the clan held land between Cork city and Macroom. His account of their descent is genealogical tradition and is not given by Woulfe, who simply notes that there were probably several Murphy families beyond those he could identify.[10][1]

The name over time

History

Many Murchadhs, many Murphys

Murphy goes back to Murchadh, a personal name that Woulfe glosses as 'sea-warrior' and that was very widely used in early Ireland. Because the name was so popular, families descended from different men called Murchadh adopted surnames from it in different parts of the country, as both Ó Murchadha ('descendant of Murchadh') and Mac Murchadha ('son of Murchadh'). Woulfe identified three Ó Murchadha families and three Mac Murchadha families, and thought there were probably others he could not trace. Most people called Murphy today therefore share a name, not a common ancestor.[1][2]

The O'Morchoes of Ballaghkeen

The best documented Murphy family was a branch of the Uí Ceinnsealaigh, the dynasty that dominated south Leinster. As chiefs of Uí Feilme, covering the barony of Ballaghkeen in east Wexford, they kept their identity as a separate clan until the early 17th century. O'Hart's pedigree calls the chiefs O'Morchoe, lists their seats at Castle Ellis, Oulartleigh and Toberlumny, and records a charter of 1461 allowing English law to apply to the sept. He says a chief under Henry VIII and Edward VI was attainted and his lands seized, and that further lands were forfeited after the 1641 rising.[1][7][11]

Ulster and Connacht families

Away from Wexford, Woulfe places one Ó Murchadha family among the Cenél nEógain as chiefs of Síol Aodha in Tyrone, and another among the Uí Fiachrach on the southern shore of Sligo Bay, in the modern parishes of Skreen and Templeboy. The Sligo family lost their lands in the 13th century and dispersed. A separate Mac Murchadha family of Muinntear Birn was numerous in Tyrone by the end of the 16th century, and Woulfe believed many of its members became Murphy in English. A third Mac Murchadha family was seated in County Roscommon.[1][2]

MacMurrough and Kavanagh

The most powerful family to take its name from a Murchadh were the MacMurroughs, kings of Leinster. Their eponym was the grandfather of Dermot MacMurrough, and Woulfe describes them as long the strongest family in the province and among the strongest in Ireland. Dermot's son Domhnall was fostered by the successor of St Caomhán at Kilcavan, near Gorey, and so was called Caomhánach. Unusually, his descendants kept that nickname as their surname, Kavanagh, and the head of the family was styled MacMurrough Kavanagh. Murphy and Kavanagh are linked through the personal name, though most Murphys do not descend from this line.[2][8][9]

Murphys in Munster

O'Hart connects a Murphy family with the barony of Muskerry in County Cork, placing their lands between Cork and Macroom on the north bank of the Lee. He also traces one Cork line to a family that moved there from Queen's County (Laois) in 1709, and records that a son lost his lands in 1756 after a legal action brought against him as a Catholic. These accounts come from 19th-century genealogy and are best read as family tradition; Woulfe, writing three decades later, did not identify a separate Munster sept, though he allowed that other Murphy families probably existed.[10][1]

Wexford in 1798

The surname is closely tied to the 1798 rebellion in Wexford, the old O'Morchoe country. Father John Murphy, a priest of the diocese of Ferns, led rebels to one of their first victories, over government militia at Oulart Hill, and in the weeks that followed became one of the rising's main leaders in the county. Another priest, Father Michael Murphy, was also among the United Irish leaders of that summer. Nothing in the sources suggests the two were closely related; by then Murphy was simply a common name in the county.[12][13][14]

Places linked to the name

  • Ballaghkeen, Co. Wexford — Barony that made up Uí Feilme, the territory of the O'Morchoe chiefs.[1]
  • Castle Ellis, Co. Wexford — Named by O'Hart as a seat of the O'Murphy chiefs of Uí Feilme.[7]
  • Oulartleigh, Co. Wexford — Lands of the O'Morchoe line in Ballaghkeen, forfeited after 1641.[7][11]
  • Skreen and Templeboy, Co. Sligo — Parishes on Sligo Bay covering the former territory of the Uí Fiachrach Ó Murchadha family.[1]
  • Muskerry (Múscraí), Co. Cork — Barony associated by O'Hart with a Cork Murphy family.[10]

Everyday lives

The Murphys in the census

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

Murphys All of Ireland Ireland's figure marked on the Murphy bar

Religion, 1911

Catholic +21.9 points vs Ireland
Murphys 95.5%
All of Ireland 73.6%
Church of Ireland −10.7 points vs Ireland
Murphys 2.5%
All of Ireland 13.2%
Presbyterian −8.7 points vs Ireland
Murphys 1.4%
All of Ireland 10.1%
Methodist & other −2.5 points vs Ireland
Murphys 0.6%
All of Ireland 3.1%

Irish language

Spoke Irish, 1901 +3.5 points vs Ireland
Murphys 18.8%
All of Ireland 15.3%
Spoke Irish, 1911 +2.8 points vs Ireland
Murphys 16.3%
All of Ireland 13.5%
Spoke Irish, 1926 · 26 counties about the same as Ireland
Murphys 13.1%
All of Ireland 13.5%

288 Murphys spoke Irish only in 1901.

Reading & writing

Could read and write, 1901 · aged 15+ −0.6 points vs Ireland
Murphys 79.8%
All of Ireland 80.4%
Could read and write, 1911 · aged 15+ about the same as Ireland
Murphys 85.7%
All of Ireland 85.8%

Family life, 1911

Household size · 11,517 households lower than Ireland
Murphys 4.75
All of Ireland 4.83
Children born per mother · women 45–59 higher than Ireland
Murphys 6.81
All of Ireland 6.46
Children still living about the same as Ireland
Murphys 79.6%
All of Ireland 79.8%

Commonest occupations

Adults aged 15+, 1901 and 1911 combined.

Farmer9,364
Farmer's son4,660
Farmer's daughter2,601
Agricultural labourer2,263
Farm servant2,101
General labourer2,024
Labourer1,551
House keeper1,249
Domestic servant1,241
Farm labourer1,240

Born outside Ireland

1.3% of Murphys in 1911 gave a birthplace outside Ireland.

England427
Scotland131
United States123
Wales23
India23
Australia & NZ9

Median age: 24 in 1901, 25 in 1911.

Given names

First names among the Murphys

Men and boys

  1. John12,058
  2. Patrick8,802
  3. James6,791
  4. Michael6,688
  5. Thomas5,311
  6. William3,872
  7. Daniel2,379
  8. Denis2,023
  9. Timothy1,815
  10. Edward1,732

Women and girls

  1. Mary13,854
  2. Bridget5,483
  3. Margaret5,286
  4. Ellen4,460
  5. Catherine3,222
  6. Kate2,992
  7. Annie2,588
  8. Julia2,139
  9. Elizabeth2,023
  10. Anne1,753

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

Spellings

Spellings

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

Spelling190119111926Records
Murphy56,64555,90549,060Search
Murphey139521Search
O Murphy71214Search

Related forms

  • O'Murphy — The older form with the Ó prefix restored; recorded by Woulfe.[1]
  • O'Morchoe — The style used by the chiefs of the Wexford Ó Murchadha family.[7][4]
  • Murchoe, Morphy — Older anglicised spellings of Ó Murchadha.[1]
  • MacMurrough, Murrough, Morrow — Anglicised forms of Mac Murchadha, the same personal name with the Mac prefix.[2]
  • MacMurchy, Murchison — Forms of Mac Murchaidh, which Woulfe treats as a variant of the Ulster Mac Murchadha.[5]
  • Kavanagh — The surname adopted by the MacMurrough kings of Leinster; related through the personal name Murchadh.[2][9]

Diaspora

The Murphys abroad

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

SpellingPeopleUS rank
Murphy308,41764th
Murphey4,0138254th

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

Heraldry

Is there a Murphy coat of arms?

There is no single Murphy coat of arms. Arms belonged to particular families, and the many unrelated Murphy septs never shared one. O'Hart records arms for the O'Murphys of Uí Feilme in Wexford with four lions and three sheaves (garbs), a crest of a red lion holding a sheaf, and the motto 'Fortis et hospitalis' (brave and hospitable). He gives a different shield, an apple tree, for the O'Morchoe line of Oulartleigh. These belong to those lines, not to every Murphy.[7][11]

Websites selling a single “Murphy 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 Murphy

  • John Murphy (c. 1753–1798)
    Wexford priest who led rebels to victory at Oulart Hill and became a leader of the 1798 rising.
  • Michael Murphy (c. 1767–1798)
    Wexford priest and United Irish leader, killed at the Battle of Arklow in 1798.
  • William Martin Murphy (1845–1919)
    Cork-born businessman and newspaper owner, the employers' leader in the 1913 Dublin Lockout.
  • Isaac Burns Murphy (1861–1896)
    American jockey who won the Kentucky Derby three times; first inductee of racing's Hall of Fame.
  • Lionel Murphy (1922–1986)
    Australian Attorney-General in the Whitlam government and later a High Court judge.
  • Audie Murphy (1925–1971)
    Most decorated American combat soldier of the Second World War, later a film actor.
  • Dervla Murphy (1931–2022)
    Waterford travel writer who cycled to India and wrote adventure travel books for over fifty years.
  • Tom Murphy (1935–2018)
    Galway-born playwright closely associated with the Abbey Theatre and Druid Theatre.
  • Róisín Murphy (born 1973)
    Irish singer, songwriter and producer, first known as half of the duo Moloko.
  • Cillian Murphy (born 1976)
    Cork-born actor whose awards include an Academy Award, a BAFTA and a Golden Globe.

Questions

Questions about the Murphy name

Is Murphy an Irish surname?

Yes. Murphy is an anglicised form of the Gaelic surname Ó Murchadha, and in some families of Mac Murchadha. Both come from Murchadh, an early Irish personal name meaning sea-warrior. Woulfe records several separate Gaelic families of the name, in Wexford, Tyrone, Sligo and Roscommon, so it is Irish in origin wherever it is found.[1][2]

What is Murphy in Irish?

The standard modern Irish form is Ó Murchú, which replaces the older spelling Ó Murchadha. Where the name comes from Mac Murchadha, the modern form is Mac Murchú. You will see Ó Murchadha on older documents and in Woulfe's 1923 dictionary, and Ó Murchú on modern Irish-language records.[3][4]

How do you pronounce Murphy?

In English it is said MUR-fee, with the stress on the first syllable; Wiktionary gives /ˈmɜːfi/ for British and Irish English and /ˈmɜɹfi/ for American English. The Irish form Ó Murchú is pronounced differently, and we have not yet found a published recording or transcription of it to quote, so we do not give one here.[15]

Are all Murphys related?

No. Murchadh was a very common personal name, and families descended from different men of that name took surnames from it independently. Woulfe identifies at least six separate families who became Murphy, MacMurrough or similar, in Leinster, Ulster and Connacht, and thought there were probably more. Two Murphys are related only if a family tree shows it.[1][2]

Is there a Murphy family crest or coat of arms?

Not one that belongs to everyone called Murphy. Coats of arms were held by particular families. O'Hart records arms with lions and sheaves of wheat, and the motto 'Fortis et hospitalis', for the O'Murphys of Uí Feilme in Wexford, and a different shield for the O'Morchoe line of Oulartleigh. A 'Murphy crest' sold online is usually one of these, applied to everyone.[7][11]

What is the Murphy clan motto?

O'Hart gives 'Fortis et hospitalis', meaning brave and hospitable, as the motto of the O'Murphys of Uí Feilme in Wexford, and repeats it for a Cork line. It belonged to those families' arms, not to a clan covering all Murphys, and it is recorded in 19th-century genealogy rather than medieval sources.[7][10]

Are Murphy and Kavanagh related?

Only through the personal name Murchadh. The MacMurrough kings of Leinster took their name from a Murchadh, the grandfather of Dermot MacMurrough, and later adopted the surname Kavanagh. Murphy comes mainly from other families called Ó Murchadha, such as the Wexford O'Morchoes, who were a branch of the same wider Uí Ceinnsealaigh dynasty.[2][8][1]

Where in Ireland is the Murphy surname most common?

In the 1911 census the largest numbers of Murphys lived in Cork (14,107), Dublin (6,160), Wexford (5,426). Relative to population, the name was most concentrated in Wexford (530 per 10,000), Carlow (402 per 10,000), Cork (359 per 10,000).

How common was the Murphy surname in Ireland?

55,969 people were recorded as Murphy or Murphey or O Murphy in the 1911 census of Ireland, making it the 1st most common surname. That is roughly 1.3% of the population, or 1 person in 78.

Looking for a Murphy ancestor?

Search every Murphy 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, Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames, entry 'Ó Murchadha' (1923)
  2. Patrick Woulfe, Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames, entry 'Mac Murchadha' (1923)
  3. Gaois research group, Dublin City University, Sloinnte: Irish surname dataset (version 2) (2022). Modern standard Irish forms.
  4. Wikipedia contributors, Murphy (surname) (2026)
  5. Patrick Woulfe, Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames, entry 'Mac Murchaidh' (1923)
  6. Wiktionary contributors, Murchadh (2026)
  7. John O'Hart, Irish Pedigrees, 'O'Murphy (No.1): Lords of Hy-Felimy' (1892)
  8. Patrick Woulfe, Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames, entry 'Mac Murchadha Caomhánach' (1923)
  9. Patrick Woulfe, Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames, entry 'Caomhánach' (1923)
  10. John O'Hart, Irish Pedigrees, 'O'Murphy (No.5): Of Cork' (1892)
  11. John O'Hart, Irish Pedigrees, 'O'Murphy (No.2)' (1892)
  12. Wikipedia contributors, John Murphy (priest) (2026)
  13. Wikipedia contributors, Michael Murphy (priest) (2026)
  14. Wikipedia contributors, Oulart (2026)
  15. Wiktionary contributors, Murphy (2026)
  16. 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.