Find out how popular the last name Murtagh is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Murtagh.

Murtagh, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Murtagh surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Murtagh in America

Murtagh is the 16570th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Murtagh surname appeared 1,732 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Murtagh.

We can also compare 2010 data for Murtagh to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Murtagh

The surname Murtagh has its origins in Ireland, where it first emerged in the 12th century. It is an anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic name O'Muircheartaigh, which means "descendant of Muircheartach". Muircheartach was a personal name derived from the Gaelic elements "muir" meaning sea and "ceart" meaning right or correct.

The Murtagh surname is closely associated with County Mayo in the west of Ireland. The Murtagh clan were one of the most prominent and powerful families in the region during the Middle Ages. They held extensive lands and were considered rulers of the Barony of Carra.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the Annals of Loch Cé, a medieval Irish chronicle, which mentions a Muircheartach O'Muircheartaigh in the year 1237. The name is also found in the Annals of the Four Masters, another important medieval Irish text.

In the 16th century, the English administration in Ireland began to anglicize many Irish surnames, leading to the emergence of the spelling Murtagh. One of the earliest recorded examples of this spelling is Sir John Murtagh, who was appointed Lord Chief Justice of Ireland in 1568.

Another notable figure in Irish history with the surname Murtagh was Theobald Murtagh (1623-1700), a Catholic lawyer and landowner from County Mayo who played a prominent role in the Irish Confederate Wars of the 1640s.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, many Murtagh families were forced to leave Ireland due to economic hardship and political unrest. As a result, the name can now be found in various parts of the world, including the United States, Canada, and Australia.

One of the most famous individuals with the surname Murtagh was the Australian author and poet John K. Murtagh (1925-2008), who wrote several acclaimed works exploring Irish-Australian identity and culture.

Other notable Murtaghs throughout history include Patrick Murtagh (1807-1865), an Irish-American politician who served as the 40th Mayor of New York City, and William Murtagh (1854-1929), an Irish-born American architect who designed several landmark buildings in New York City.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Murtagh

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Murtagh.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Murtagh was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Murtagh has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Murtagh was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Murtagh, please contact us.

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