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
Murphy through the years
  1. 1881
    First appearance
    #781 among boys with 6 babies, the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1892
    Peak, #497
    16 babies named Murphy, its best rank.
  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 on, more girls have.
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.