Murray (surname)

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Murray (About this soundlisten (help·info)) is both a Scottish and an Irish surname with two distinct respective etymologies. The Scottish version is a common variation of the word Moray, an anglicisation of the Medieval Gaelic word Muireb (or Moreb); the b here was pronounced as v, hence the Latinization to Moravia. These names denote the district on the south shore of the Moray Firth, in Scotland. Murray is a direct transliteration of how Scottish people pronounce the word Moray. The Murray spelling is not used for the geographical area, which is Moray, but it became the commonest form of the surname, especially among Scottish emigrants, to the extent that the surname Murray is now much more common than the original surname Moray. See also Clan Murray.

In addition to the Scottish derivation, the Irish version may derive from Ó Muireadhaigh, Mac Muireadhaigh. and Mac Giolla Mhuire.[1]

History[]

A considerable number of present bearers of this surname are of Scottish origin, especially in Ulster. Possible etymologies are:

  • From Moray in northeast Scotland, which came from the Scottish Gaelic for "sea settlement".
  • As a native Irish of this name, from Mac Muireadhaigh or Ó Muireadhaigh "descendant of Muireadhach" or Mac Giolla Mhuire "descendant of the servant of the Virgin Mary".

The motto for Murray is Imperio. "Murrays" trace their heritage back to the 12th century and take their name from the province of Moray, once a local kingdom. It was during this time that the Flemish lords crossed the North Sea and established themselves in the Scottish realm. Among them was Freskin. It is possible that either Freskin or his son William intermarried with the ancient royal house of Moray. The senior line of the Murrays took the surname of Sutherland and became Earls of Sutherland by 1235.

Thereafter, the chiefs of the Murrays were the Lords of Petty in Moray, who also became Lords of Bothwell in Clydesdale before 1253. An heir of this line, Sir Andrew Moray, was the brilliant young general who led the Scots in 1297 in their first uprising against English rule. He was mortally wounded while winning his famous victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

His son, Sir Andrew Murray, 4th Lord of Bothwell, third Regent of Scotland, married Christian Bruce, a sister of King Robert the Bruce. He was captured at Roxburgh early in 1333 and was a prisoner in England at the time of the Battle of Halidon Hill. He obtained his freedom in time to march to the relief of his wife, who was defending Kildrummy Castle. Sir Andrew commenced with unabated spirit to struggle in the cause of independence and died in 1338.

The last Murray Lord of Bothwell died in 1360 of the plague. By the 16th century, the Murrays of Tullibardine in Strathearn had assumed the leadership of the Murrays. This was formally confirmed by Bands of Association in 1586 and 1589.

Sir John became the 1st Earl of Tullibardine in 1606. Thus, the Tullibardine hegemony was firmly established among the Murrays; and George Iain Murray, 10th Duke of Atholl was also Marquis of Tullibardine as recognized in Lyon Register as Chief of the Murrays. The 2nd Earl of Tullibardine William Murray, 1574 circa – 1628, married Lady Dorothea Stewart, heiress of the Earls of Atholl in 1629 and Marquises from 1676. To their medieval peacock's head crest (motto-Praite), they added the mermaid (motto-Tout Pret), as Lords of Balquidder; and in the seventeenth century, they took the demi-savage holding a sword and a key commemorating the capture of the last Lord of the Isles by the 1st Stewart Earl of Atholl in 1475: hence the motto Furth, Fortune, and Fill the Fetters. (Go forth against your enemies, have good fortune, and return with hostages and booty).

Since 1703, the Murray's chiefs have been Dukes of Atholl. For a time in the 18th century, the Murray dukes were also Sovereign Lords of the Isle of Man, with their own coinage and parliament, The House of Keys. The 1st Duke's younger son, Lord George Murray, was the Jacobite general responsible for the highlander's successes through the early part of the 1745 uprising.

Much of the above information about the Murrays was taken from the book The Highland Clans, by Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk.

Lord George's descendant George Murray, 10th Duke of Atholl, died in February 1996. The new Duke of Atholl is John Murray, 11th Duke of Atholl, a South African. The new Duke has taken the chiefship of the Murrays.

People[]

Murray may refer to many people (see also Clan Murray):

A[]

B[]

  • Barbara Murray (1929–2014), actress
  • Bert Murray (born 1942), English football player
  • Bill Murray (born 1950), American actor
  • Billy Murray (actor) (born 1941), British actor
  • Billy Murray (singer) (1877–1954), American singer
  • Bob Murray (businessman) (born 1946), businessman and former chairman of Sunderland Football Club
  • Brady Murray (born 1984), American ice hockey player
  • Braham Murray (1943–2018), English theatre director
  • Brendan Murray (born 1996), Irish singer
  • Brendan Murray (born 1995), known as Bighead (producer), American record producer
  • Brett Murray (born 1961), South African artist
  • Brian Doyle-Murray (born 1945), American comedian, screenwriter and actor
  • Bruce C. Murray (1931–2013), American planetary scientist
  • Bruce Murray (cricketer) (born 1940), New Zealand cricketer
  • Bruce Murray (soccer) (born 1966), American soccer player
  • Bryan Murray (ice hockey) (1942–2017), Canadian ice hockey coach and executive

C[]

D[]

  • Daniel Murray (mathematician) (1862–1934) Canadian mathematician
  • Daniel Alexander Payne Murray (1852–1925), African American intellectual
  • Darren Murray (born 1974), Scottish footballer
  • Darrin Murray (born 1967), New Zealand cricketer
  • Dave Murray (musician) (born 1956), Iron Maiden guitarist
  • David Murray (disambiguation)
  • David Christie Murray (1847–1907), English journalist and writer
  • David Murray-Lyon (1890–1975), officer in the Indian Army
  • Dee Murray (1946–1992), British bassist, best known as a member of Elton John's original rock band
  • Denis Murray (journalist) (born 1951), British television journalist
  • DeMarco Murray (born 1988), Dallas Cowboys running back
  • Denis Murray (athlete) (1881–1944), Irish athlete at the 1908 Olympic Games in London
  • Deryck Murray (born 1943), former West Indies cricketer
  • Devon Murray (born 1988), Irish actor
  • Don Murray (clarinetist) (1904–1929), American jazz musician
  • Don Murray (actor) (born 1929), American actor
  • Don Murray (writer) (1923–2006), Pulitzer Prize–winning writer for the Boston Herald
  • Donald Walter Gordon Murray (1894–1976), Canadian surgeon
  • Douglas Murray (ice hockey) (born 1980), Swedish ice hockey player
  • Durno Murray (1925–2009), Australian ornithologist

E[]

F[]

G[]

  • Garth Murray (born 1982), Canadian ice hockey player
  • Geoffrey Cushing-Murray (born 1946), American songwriter
  • George Murray (disambiguation)
  • Gideon Oliphant-Murray, 2nd Viscount Elibank (1877–1951)
  • Gilbert Murray (1866–1957), British intellectual
  • Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto (1751–1814)
  • Glen Murray (ice hockey) (born 1972), Canadian ice hockey player
  • Glen Murray (politician) (born 1957), Canadian politician
  • Glenn Murray (born 1983), English football player
  • Gerald R. Murray (born 1956), 14th Chief Master Sergeant of the US Air Force
  • Gordon Murray (born 1946), designer of Formula One race cars
  • Gordon Murray (puppeteer) (1921–2016), British television producer and puppeteer
  • K. Gordon Murray (1922–1979), American film producer
  • Grace H. Murray (1872–1944), American artist
  • Grace Hopper (1906–1992), Grace Murray Hopper, American computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral
  • Graham Murray (1955–2013), Australian rugby league player and coach
  • Grant Murray (born 1975), Scottish professional footballer
  • Grover E. Murray (1916–2003), President of Texas Tech University (1966–1976)
  • Guillermo Murray (1927–2021), Argentine-Mexican actor and director
  • Guy Murray, American track/cross country coach and former marathon runner

H[]

  • Hannah Murray (born 1989), English actress
  • H. J. R. Murray (1868–1955), English chess historian
  • Harry Murray (1880–1966), Australian Victoria Cross recipient
  • Henry Murray (1893–1988), American psychologist who developed the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
  • Herbert Harley Murray (1829–1904), English colonial governor
  • Herbert Murray (footballer) (1886–1918), Scottish footballer
  • Hubert Murray (1861–1940), brother of Gilbert Murray
  • Hugh Murray (disambiguation)

I[]

  • Iain Murray (disambiguation)
  • Iain Murray (sailor) (born 1958), Australian olympic sailor
  • Ian Murray (disambiguation)

J[]

  • J. A. Murray (naturalist)
  • Jack Murray (disambiguation)
  • Jaime Murray (born 1976), English actress
  • Jamal Murray (born 1997), Canadian basketball player
  • James Murray (disambiguation)
  • Jamie Murray (born 1986), Scottish tennis player
  • Jan Murray (1916–2006), American stand-up comedian
  • Janice Murray (footballer) (born 1966), English association footballer
  • Janice Murray (speech therapist), Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University
  • Janet Murray, Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Jenni Murray (born 1950), British journalist and broadcaster
  • Jennifer Murray (born 1940), British pilot and the first woman to circumnavigate the world in a helicopter
  • Jillian Murray (born 1984), an American Actress
  • Jim Murray (football), an American football executive
  • Jim Murray (musician) (1942–2013), a San Francisco musician of the 1960s
  • Jim Murray (sportswriter) (1919–1998), American sportswriter
  • Jimmy Murray (offensive lineman) (born 1995), American football player
  • Joan Murray (born 1945), American poet
  • Joel Murray (born 1963), American actor
  • John Murray (disambiguation)
  • John Courtney Murray (1904–1967), American priest and theologian
  • John Stewart-Murray, 7th Duke of Atholl (1840–1917)
  • John Stewart-Murray, 8th Duke of Atholl (1871–1942)
  • Johnston Murray (1902–1974), Governor of Oklahoma
  • Jon Murray (disambiguation)
  • Jonathan Murray (born 1955), television producer
  • Joseph Murray (disambiguation)
  • Judith Sargent Murray (1751–1820)
  • Judy Murray (born 1959), Scottish tennis coach
  • Juggy Murray (1923–2005), American record label owner
  • Junior Murray (born 1968), West Indian cricketer

K[]

  • Kate Murray (born 1962), American Supervisor of Hempstead, New York
  • Katharine Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl (1874–1960), Duchess of Atholl
  • Keith Murray (disambiguation), multiple people
  • Ken Murray (disambiguation), multiple people
  • Kenneth Murray (disambiguation), multiple people
  • Kevin Murray (disambiguation), multiple people
  • Kyler Murray (born 1997), American football and baseball player

L[]

  • Lamond Murray (born 1973), basketball player
  • Larry Murray (born 1947), Canadian civil servant
  • Lawrence J. Murray, Jr. (1910–2000), New York politician
  • Lawrence O. Murray, U.S. Comptroller of the Currency from 1908 to 1913
  • Lee Murray (born 1977), a British mixed martial arts fighter of partial Moroccan descent.
  • Len Murray (Lionel Murray, Baron Murray of Epping Forest, 1922–2004), British Trade Union leader
  • Lenda Murray (born 1962), American female bodybuilder
  • Les Murray (broadcaster) (1945–2017), Hungarian-Australian sports journalist
  • Les Murray (poet) (1938–2019), Australian poet
  • Leticia Murray (born 1979), Mexican actress
  • Lindley Murray (1745–1826), American lawyer
  • Lindley Murray (tennis) (1892–1970), American tennis player
  • Liz Murray (born 1980), American inspirational speaker
  • Louise Murray (1854–1931), American local historian and museum director
  • Lowell Murray (born 1936), Canadian politician
  • Lynn Murray, Scottish actress
  • Lynne Murray, British psychopathologist and academic

M[]

N[]

  • Nathan Lovett-Murray (born 1982), Australian rules footballer
  • Nathaniel A. Murray
  • Nathaniel O. Murray (1834–1882), American politician
  • Neil Murray (Australian musician) (born 1956)
  • Neil Murray (British musician) (born 1950)

P[]

  • Patrick Murray (disambiguation)
  • Patty Murray (Patricia Lynn Murray, born 1950), United States Senator
  • Paul Murray (disambiguation)
  • Pauli Murray Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray (1910–1985), American civil rights activist
  • Peta Murray (born 1958), Australian writer
  • Pete Murray (Australian singer-songwriter) (born 1969), Australian singer-songwriter
  • Pete Murray (DJ) (born 1925), English disc jockey
  • Peter Murray (Harvard Law School), Harvard Law professor
  • Peter Murray-Rust (born 1941), English chemist, open data activist
  • Philip Murray (1886–1952), Scottish-born steelworker and American labor leader
  • Philip H. Murray (1842–1917), American journalist, phrenologist, and civil rights activist
  • Philip I. Murray, English ophthalmologist

R[]

  • Raymond Murray (1913–2004), American Marine Corps officer
  • Red Murray (1884–1958), American baseball player
  • Rem Murray (born 1972), Canadian ice hockey player
  • Richard Murray (disambiguation)
  • Rob Murray (born 1967), Canadian ice hockey player
  • Robert Murray (disambiguation)
  • Robin Murray (born 1944), British psychiatrist
  • Ronald Murray (born 1979), American basketball player
  • Ronald King Murray, Lord Murray (1922–2016), Scottish politician and judge
  • Ruby Murray (1935–1996), Northern Ireland singer
  • Rupert Murray (born 1969), film director
  • Russell Mervyn Murray (1877–1945), mine manager in Mount Lyell, Tasmania

S[]

  • Sabina Murray (born 1968), Filipina-American screenwriter
  • Samantha Murray (born 1989), English modern pentathlete
  • Samantha Murray Sharan (born 1987), British tennis player
  • Scott Murray (rugby player) (born 1976), Scottish rugby player
  • Sean Murray (disambiguation)
  • Shaun Murray (born 1976), US wakeboarder
  • Shaun Murray (footballer) (born 1970), English footballer
  • Shirley Murray (1931–2020), New Zealand hymn writer
  • Simon Murray (disambiguation)
  • , Scottish lecturer and author of
  • Stephen Murray (disambiguation), several people, including:
    • Stephen Murray (actor) (1912–1983), British actor
    • Stephen Murray (historian) (born 1945), British architectural historian
    • Stephen O. Murray (1950–2019), sociologist, anthropologist, scholar specialising in homosexuality
  • Stuart Murray (born 1954), politician in Manitoba, Canada
  • Stuart S. Murray (1898–1980), Vice Admiral of the United States Navy
  • Suna Murray (born 1955), US figure skater
  • Sunny Murray James Marcellus Arthur Murray (1936–2017), American free jazz drummer
  • Sara Murray (born 1968), British entrepreneur and businesswoman

T[]

W[]

  • Wal Murray (1931–2004), Australian politician
  • Walter Charles Murray (1866–1945)
  • Will Murray (writer) (born 1953), American novelist
  • Willard H. Murray, Jr. (born 1931), American politician
  • William Murray (disambiguation)
  • William H. Murray (Medal of Honor recipient) (1876–1923), American Medal of Honor recipient

Y[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ MacLysaght, Edward (January 8, 1985). The Surnames of Ireland. Irish Academic Press. ISBN 9780716523666 – via Google Books.
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