Murphy
A masculine Irish name of unknown meaning, possibly derived from Murchadha.
Name Census estimates that about 9,439 living Americans carry the first name Murphy. It sits at #474 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 67.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Murphy today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Murphy births was 2024 (954 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Murphy. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
9.4K
~ 1 in 36,313 Americans
Peak year
2024
954 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#474
Tracked since 1881
Gender
Gender distribution for Murphy
Murphy is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 12,044 total registrations, 8,144 (67.6%) were male and 3,900 (32.4%) were female.
Murphy as a male name
- Ranked #815 in 2024
- 307 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (307 births)
Murphy as a female name
- Ranked #474 in 2024
- 647 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (647 births)
Popularity
Murphy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Murphy from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 3,605 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Murphy by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Murphy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Murphys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 39 states and territories. Louisiana, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Murphy, while Nevada, South Dakota, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 170 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Murphy
The name Murphy originated from the Irish Gaelic Ó Murchadha or Ó Murchúda, which means "descendant of Murchadh" or "sea warrior". This Gaelic personal name Murchadh itself is derived from the Old Irish muir meaning "sea" and cath meaning "battle" or "warrior".
The name can be traced back to the early medieval period in Ireland, around the 9th or 10th century. It was initially given as a byname or nickname to those who had expertise in naval warfare or were known for their seafaring abilities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Murphy is found in the Annals of Ulster, an ancient chronicle of medieval Irish history. It mentions a Murphy (Murchadh) who was the King of Leinster in the 10th century.
In the 12th century, during the Norman invasion of Ireland, the name Murphy gained prominence as many Irish families adopted hereditary surnames based on their ancestral first names. The Ó Murchadha clan was influential in counties such as Wexford, Kilkenny, and Tipperary.
Throughout Irish history, several notable figures bore the name Murphy, including Donal Óg Murchadha (c. 1530-1577), a Irish lord and military leader during the Desmond Rebellions against English rule, and Rory O'More (Ruairí Ó Mórdha, c. 1590-1655), a famous Irish outlaw and rebel who fought against English forces.
In the 17th century, the name Murphy also found its way to Scotland and England due to Irish migration and the Plantation of Ulster. One of the earliest recorded Murphys in England was Thomas Murphy (1585-1666), a judge and Member of Parliament during the English Civil War.
Other notable individuals with the name Murphy include Arthur Murphy (1727-1805), an Irish writer and playwright known for his plays "The Grecian Daughter" and "The Way to Keep Him", and John Murphy (1753-1798), an Irish Presbyterian minister and United Irishman who was executed for his role in the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
People
Murphy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Murphy as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Murphy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Murphy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,439 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Murphy going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 36,313 US residents.
Is Murphy a common name?
We classify Murphy as "Rare". It ranks above 97.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,044 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Murphy most popular?
The single biggest year for Murphy was 2024, when 954 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Murphy is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Murphy a male name?
Yes, 67.6% of people registered as Murphy in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.