Murphy

Where Murphy comes from

From Irish Ó Murchadha (“descendant of Murrough”), Mac Murchaidh (“Son of Murrough”), etc. See Muircath.
— Wiktionary's entry for Murphy
  • From a surname
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1881
    First appearance
    #781 among boys, 6 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1892
    Peak, #497
    16 babies named Murphy — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1894
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #787.
  4. 1968
    Murphy Jensen born
    US tennis player
  5. 1989
    Murphy Troy born
    US volleyball player
  6. 2020
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
In the dictionary
  • A unisex given name transferred from the surname, of occasional usage.
Namesakes
  • Murphy Jensen · US tennis player, born 1968
  • Murphy Troy · US volleyball player, born 1989
  • Murphy Pakiam · Catholic archbishop, born 1938
  • Murphy J. Foster · American politician and entrepreneur, 1849–1921
  • Murphy Dunne · American actor and musician, born 1942

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.