Explore the Family Name Murchison

The meaning of Murchison

Scottish (northwestern): Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Murchaidh ‘son of Murchadh’, a Gaelic name meaning ‘sea warrior’; see Murchie, Murphy. The Gaelic patronymic prefix Mac has been translated into the English patronymic suffix -son.

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

How common is the last name Murchison in the United States?

According to the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Murchison experienced a slight decrease between 2000 and 2010. The rank dropped from 7,846 to 8,106 in 2010, indicating a decrease in popularity by 3.31%. However, the actual count of people carrying this surname increased from 3,913 to 4,089, suggesting an increase of 4.5% over the decade. Despite the rise in count, the proportion per 100,000 decreased by 4.14%, from 1.45 in 2000 to 1.39 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#7,846	#8,106	-3.31%
Count	3,913	4,089	4.5%
Proportion per 100k	1.45	1.39	-4.14%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Murchison

In terms of ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows some noticeable shifts between 2000 and 2010. The Hispanic ethnicity using the surname Murchison experienced the most significant growth with an increase of 85.16%, followed by those identifying as two or more races, which saw a boost of 53.62%. The Asian/Pacific Islander demographic also grew by 39.29%. Conversely, the proportion of White individuals with the surname dropped by 4.03%, though they still represented the majority in 2010. The black community saw a marginal increase of 0.12%, while American Indian and Alaskan Natives witnessed a significant decline of 36.36%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	52.67%	50.55%	-4.03%
Black	43.04%	43.09%	0.12%
Two or More Races	2.07%	3.18%	53.62%
Hispanic	1.28%	2.37%	85.16%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.66%	0.42%	-36.36%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.28%	0.39%	39.29%