Explore the Family Name O’flaherty

The meaning of O’flaherty

Irish (Galway): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Flaithbheartaigh ‘descendant of Flaithbheartach’ (see Flaherty). Some characteristic forenames: Irish Brendan, Cathal, Clancy, Kieran, Liam, Ronan, Seamus, Siobhan.

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

How common is the last name O’flaherty in the United States?

According to the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname O’Flaherty has seen a modest increase in the United States between 2000 and 2010. The rank of the surname increased from 20,785 to 20,421, marking a 1.75% growth. In terms of absolute count, there were approximately 1181 individuals with the O'Flaherty surname in 2000, which grew to about 1301 by 2010, representing a rise of 10.16%. Despite this increase in numbers, the proportion of the O’Flaherty surname per 100k people remained constant at 0.44.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#20,785	#20,421	1.75%
Count	1,181	1,301	10.16%
Proportion per 100k	0.44	0.44	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name O’flaherty

The Decennial U.S. Census data also provides insights into the ethnic identity of individuals with the O’Flaherty surname. In 2000, a significant majority, 95.51%, identified as White, but this figure declined slightly to 93.85% by 2010. The percentage of those identifying as Hispanic saw an impressive rise from 1.35% in 2000 to 2.61% in 2010, which is over a 90% increase. Meanwhile, the proportion of individuals identifying as Black experienced a decrease from 1.78% to 1.46%. Those reporting two or more races increased from 1.10% to 1.31%. No individuals with the O'Flaherty surname identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native during either census year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.51%	93.85%	-1.74%
Hispanic	1.35%	2.61%	93.33%
Black	1.78%	1.46%	-17.98%
Two or More Races	1.1%	1.31%	19.09%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%