Murphy

An Irish surname of Cork, Sligo, and Wexford. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 308,417 people, the 64th most common surname in the country.

Rugged Atlantic coastline at Allihies, Cork, Ireland, with layered slate cliffs, fine art landscape photograph by Peter Cox
Allihies Coast, Cork

Where the name is from

In 1894 the Registrar General for Ireland, Sir Robert Matheson, published a special report on Irish surnames. He counted the births registered under every name in the country and set down the counties where each one was principally found. It is the closest thing we have to a map of where Irish families stood before emigration scattered them.

Matheson counts 1,386 births under Murphy in 1894, and names Cork, Sligo, Tyrone, and Wexford as the counties where he found it most concentrated.

Munster 611
Leinster 476
Ulster 189
Connacht 110
Ireland 1,386

Tyrone is the one I haven't worked in.

The Murphy counties, photographed

Photographs made in the counties above.

Cork

Sunset over Dun an Oir ruins and sea stacks on Cape Clear Island, Cork, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxDún an Óir, Cape Clear Island, Cork Co. Cork The Fastnet Lighthouse standing proud on a calm summer evening off West Cork in black and white panoramic viewThe Fastnet Lighthouse, Co. Cork Co. Cork Aerial view of the Fastnet Lighthouse surrounded by angry seas off West Cork with Cape Clear Island on the horizonThe Fastnet from the Air Co. Cork

Sligo

Mullaghmore, Co. SligoMullaghmore, Co. Sligo Co. Sligo Ruined cottage on a blustery day in the Ox Mountains, Co. Sligo, Ireland, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxCottage, Ox Mountains, Co. Sligo Co. Sligo Aerial view of a stream winding across a beach to the sea, Co. Sligo, Ireland — fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxBeach Detail, Co. Sligo Co. Sligo Benbulben mountain bathed in sunset light, Co. Sligo, Ireland — fine art aerial landscape photograph by Peter CoxBenbulben, Co. Sligo Co. Sligo

Wexford

Hook Lighthouse beam reflecting across calm waters at dusk, Co. Wexford — fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxHook Lighthouse at Dusk, Wexford Co. Wexford Black and white panoramic of Hook Head lighthouse and wild sea under brooding skies, Co. Wexford — fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxHook Head, Co. Wexford Co. Wexford Moonrise, Tramore, Co. WexfordMoonrise, Tramore, Co. Wexford Co. Wexford Long exposure of carnival Ferris wheel at night on the coast, Tramore, Co. Wexford, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxCarnival, Tramore, Co. Wexford Co. Wexford

All Cork prints · All Sligo prints · All Wexford prints

About this page

The counties above are Matheson's, taken from his 1894 report, and they describe where a surname was concentrated in the nineteenth century. They are not a claim about any one family. Names travelled inside Ireland as much as out of it, and plenty of names on this list did not begin in Ireland at all.

The photographs are mine, made in the counties named. If your name is not here, it is because Matheson recorded no county for it, or because I have not yet photographed the county he gives.