Explore the Family Name Murtaugh

The meaning of Murtaugh

Irish: variant of Murtagh. This form of the surname is rare in Britain and Ireland.

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

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

According to the data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Murtaugh saw a slight dip between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it was ranked as the 17,984th most common surname in the U.S., but by 2010, it had dropped to 19,012th position, a change of -5.72%. Despite this drop in rank, the actual count of people with the Murtaugh name marginally increased from 1,431 in 2000 to 1,433 in 2010, an increase of 0.14%. However, the proportion per 100k people decreased from 0.53 in 2000 to 0.49 in 2010, reflecting a -7.55% change.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#17,984	#19,012	-5.72%
Count	1,431	1,433	0.14%
Proportion per 100k	0.53	0.49	-7.55%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Murtaugh

The ethnicity distribution among individuals with the Murtaugh surname also shifted slightly between 2000 and 2010 based on Decennial U.S. Census data. The percentage identifying as White descended from 97.48% in 2000 to 95.53% in 2010. Meanwhile, the Hispanic representation saw the most notable increase, growing from 0.91% in 2000 to 2.30% in 2010, which is a substantial 152.75% change. There was also an increase in people of two or more ethnicities, from 0.70% in 2000 to 1.12% in 2010. Interestingly, there was an emergence of Asian/Pacific Islander representation at 0.91% in 2010, where none had been recorded in 2000. However, Black representation declined from 0.35% in 2000 to 0% in 2010. No American Indian and Alaskan Native representation was identified in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.48%	95.53%	-2%
Hispanic	0.91%	2.3%	152.75%
Two or More Races	0.7%	1.12%	60%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.91%	0%
Black	0.35%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%