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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Murphy with official rankings and popularity over time.
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
Census
Murphy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,017 people with the first name Murphy, which placed it at #3,451 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,451
National first-name rank
People counted
6.0K
6,017 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Murphy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Murphy is White at 71.7%. The next largest groups are Black (14.1%) and Hispanic (4.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Murphy described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Murphy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.7% · 4,317
- Black or African American14.1% · 846
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 279
- Two or more races3.8% · 227
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 207
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 141
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)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Murphy on both sides of the split. Of the 6,019 people counted with this name, 4,334 were male (72.0%) and 1,685 were female (28.0%).
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.
How common was Murphy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,017 people with the name Murphy, or 1.99 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,451 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Murphy in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Murphy?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Murphy on both sides of the split. Of the 6,019 people counted with this name, 4,334 were male (72.0%) and 1,685 were female (28.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Murphy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Murphy is White at 71.7%. The next largest groups are Black (14.1%) and Hispanic (4.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Murphy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Murphy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.7% (4,317 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Murphy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
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.
Is Murphy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Murphy in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Murphy can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How common is the name Murphy?
See how many people share the name Murphy on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.