Explore the Family Name Morris

The meaning of Morris

1. English and Scottish: from Maurice, an Old French personal name introduced to Britain by the Normans. It is derived from Latin Mauritius, a derivative of Maurus (see Moore). This was the name of several early Christian saints. In some cases it may be a nickname of the same derivation for someone with a swarthy complexion. 2. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Muirghis, a variant of Ó Muirgheasa (see Morrissey). 3. Welsh: Anglicized form of the personal name Meurig (from Latin Mauritius), which was gradually superseded in Wales by Morus, Morys, a derivative of the Anglo-Norman French form of the name (see 1 above). 4. German: variant of Moritz and, in North America, (also) an altered form of this. 5. Americanized form of French Maurice, a cognate of 1 above. 6. Americanized form of various like-sounding Jewish surnames (see Morse). History: Morris was the name of an extensive and powerful family in colonial North America, whose members played a leading part in the emergence of the nation. They were descended from Richard Morris (died 1672), who fought in Oliver Cromwell’s army and then became a merchant in Barbados. His son Lewis (1671–1746) established the manor of Morrisania in NY. His grandson, Lewis (1726–98), third owner of that manor, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Two other grandsons, Richard and Gouverneur, were also key figures in the American Revolution. Their half-brother Staats Morris (1728–1800) was a general in the British army who was appointed governor of QC. Another signer of the Declaration, Robert Morris (1734–1806), had emigrated to North America from Liverpool at the age of 13. He became known as the “Financier of the Revolution” and was the founder of the Bank of North America. Despite his reputation, he was personally ruined by unwise (or unfortunate) speculation.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

What do people with the surname Morris have in common?

Spoiler alert: it's complicated. People with the same last name are usually no more genetically similar than a randomly sampled group of people from the same population. That said, people with the same surname are more likely to have similar ancestries than randomly sampled individuals. The reason is the tendency of people with similar cultural or geographical backgrounds to preferentially mate with one another. That's why people who share a surname may be more likely to share traits and tendencies in common than people within the general population. Check out the percentages below to see the prevalences of tastes, habits, and traits of people with your surname compared with prevalences among 23andMe users.