Murray

An Irish surname of Antrim, Cork, Dublin, Galway, and Mayo. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 184,910 people, the 136th most common surname in the country.

Murray is the anglicised form of four distinct Irish names. Some you can hear in the English name; others look and sound nothing like it, and were simply swapped for it.

Mac Giolla Mhuire, son of Giolla Mhuire (servant of Mary). This family stood in Co. Down.

Mac Muireadhaigh, son of Muireadhach (belonging to the sea, a mariner; also a lord)

Ó Muireadhaigh, descendant of Muireadhach (seaman, mariner, also a lord). This family stood in Co. Cork, Co. Mayo, Co. Roscommon, and Co. Westmeath.

Ó Muirighthe

Where the name comes from

Ó Muireadhaigh is descendant of Muireadhach, a seaman or mariner and also a lord, and it covers several distinct families. The O'Murrys of Mayo, Roscommon, Westmeath and Cork were dynastic families who anciently ruled over extensive districts, though they have all been long dispossessed and dispersed, and there were many distinguished ecclesiastics of the name.

Mac Giolla Mhuire, son of the servant of Mary, belonged to a family in Co. Down who were chiefs of Ui Derca Cein in the barony (an old land division, several parishes across) of Castlereagh. They are a branch of the family of O'Morna, formerly lords of Lecale, descended from Giolla Mhuire Ó Morna, lord of Lecale, whose death is recorded at the year 1276. Gilmore, Gilmour, Kilmurry and Murray are all the one name, and in Scotland it is anglicised Morrison instead, which is the same words in the same order.

Mac Muireadhaigh is an old Breifney surname, still common in the district but generally anglicised MacMorrow.

The Giant's Causeway at twilight with wet hexagonal basalt columns stretching to the sea and long exposure blurred waves
The Giant's Causeway, Co. Antrim

The Murray counties, photographed

Antrim

The Antrim coast road runs about 25 miles between the cliffs and the sea, with nine glens coming down to it. The rock is basalt, the same flow that formed the Giant's Causeway. Scotland is 12 miles off at the narrowest point and visible on a clear day.

The iconic Dark Hedges beech tree tunnel near Armoy in County Antrim with intertwined branches forming a brooding canopyThe Dark Hedges, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Long exposure of Pan's Rock with its footbridge at dawn on the Antrim Causeway Coast, silky water and blurred clouds, Rathlin Island on the horizonPan's Rock, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim

Cork

Cork is the largest county in Ireland. Three peninsulas run west into the Atlantic: Beara, Sheep's Head and Mizen, with the population thinning the further out you go. My gallery is in Glengarriff at the head of Bantry Bay, so it's the ground I photograph most.

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

Dublin

Dublin is a county as well as a city. The bay has Howth at the north end and Killiney Hill at the south, the Muglins are a pair of rocks off Dalkey, and the Dublin Mountains start about half an hour from the city centre.

Moonlight reflecting on the sea near the Muglins lighthouse off Dalkey Island, Dublin, with the Kish light on the horizonThe Muglins by Moonlight II Co. Dublin Long exposure panoramic view of the White Rock swimming platform at Killiney Bay, Dublin, floating in misty high-tide watersThe White Rock, Killiney Bay, Co. Dublin Co. Dublin

Galway

Connemara takes up the west of the county: the Twelve Bens, blanket bog, and fields walled off into very small squares. The Aran Islands sit at the mouth of Galway Bay. The Gaeltacht starts a few miles west of Galway city.

Enormous waves sending spray over 30-metre sea cliffs at Poll an tSeidein on Inis Meain, Aran Islands at sunsetPoll an tSéideáin, Inis Meáin, Aran Islands, Co. Galway Co. Galway The rusting Plassey shipwreck on Inis Oirr, Aran Islands, seen from above with the Atlantic Ocean beyondThe Plassey, Inis Oirr, Aran Islands, Co. Galway Co. Galway

Mayo

Achill is the largest island off the Irish coast and is joined to the mainland by a bridge. Clew Bay is full of drumlins that were drowned when the sea rose, which is where the story about an island for every day of the year comes from. Croagh Patrick stands over the south side of the bay. Mayo's population is still less than half what it was before the Famine.

Black and white view across Doo Lough towards Ben Gorm and mountains, Co. Mayo, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxDoo Lough, Co. Mayo Co. Mayo Black and white view of Dun Briste sea stack from a sea cave, Co. Mayo, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxDún Briste from the Cave Co. Mayo

All Antrim prints · All Cork prints · All Dublin prints · All Galway prints · All Mayo prints

Notable bearers

Andy Murray (born 1987), tennis player.

Bill Murray (born 1950), actor, singer, and screenwriter.

Joseph Murray (1919-2012), university teacher, physician, and surgeon.

Chad Michael Murray (born 1981), actor, screenwriter, and film producer.

Chad Michael Murray (born 1981), actor, screenwriter, and film producer.

About this page

The counties on this page are where the name was thickest on the ground in Ireland a century and a half ago, not a claim about any one family. Names moved around inside the country as much as they left it. The photographs are mine, made in the counties named.

More Irish surnames: Smith · Brown · Miller · Wilson · Anderson · Thomas · Taylor · Moore · Jackson · Martin · Lee · Thompson

How common the name was

In 1890, 438 births were registered under Murray in Ireland, most of them in Antrim, Cork, Down, Dublin, Galway, and Mayo.

Ulster 161
Leinster 120
Connacht 92
Munster 65
Ireland 438

Down is the one I haven't worked in.