Murray

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Murray, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Fraser
• Fergus
• Irving
• Innes
• Arran

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Murray is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate name2 spellings in the group
• German surname3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Germany, United States, United Kingdom, Austria

  Also written Murray️

• Hindi surname3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu

  Also written Murräy

94 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Murray is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, From the province/earldom of Moray, Old Gaelic mori ‘sea home’; William de Moravia recorded from 1203.

  as a name·Scottish Surnames

• In English, from the province of Moray, Scotland; first attested William de Moravia 1203 Black

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic 6 Muireadhaigh ‘descendant of Muireadhach’ (the name of several different families in various parts of Ireland), or a shortened form of McMurRAY.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• regional name from Moray in northeastern Scotland, which is probably named with Old Celtic elements meaning ‘sea’ -f ‘settlement’.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• Transferred use of the Scottish surname, in origin a local name from the region now called Moray. Variant: Moray.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Grace Hopperb. 1906USnot in their usual nameAmerican computer scientist and United States Navy officer (1906–1992)
• Bill Murrayb. 1950USAmerican actor and comedian
• Andy Murrayb. 1987GBBritish tennis player (born 1987)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

79 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 42 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Murray mean, and where does it come from?

From Moray, northeastern Scotland, probably 'sea settlement'; or from Irish Gaelic Mac Muireadhaigh / Mac Giolla Mhuire. Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].

Which countries have the most people with the surname Murray?

In the United States, the national register counted about 185 thousand people named Murray, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled murray. After it come United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and South Africa; the country table on this page ranks them.

How do you pronounce Murray?

In English /ˈmɝi/ (Wiktionary).

How common is the name Murray?

In the United States, the national register counted 184,910 people named Murray in 2010, about 1 in 1.8 thousand residents.

How common is Murray compared with other names?

In the United States, Murray is the 108th most common surname of 6,282,806 surnames recorded there.