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    The surname Flaherty

    An Irish surname, carried by 17,926 people in the United States.

    2 syllables Soundex F463

    Flaherty: #2,013 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Flaherty #2,013, 17,926 people Flaherty: #2,013 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Flaherty #2,013, 17,926 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Flaherty is more common than 98.8% of them.

    Origin

    Irish origin

    From Irish Flaithbheartach, Flaithbheartaigh (“bright ruler”), from flaith (“prince, ruler”) + Proto-Celtic *berxtos (“bright, shining”), cognate with Proto-Germanic *berhtaz (“bright, shining”).

    One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 17,926 people named Flaherty in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 17,223 Americans. That is up 2.4% since 2000, when the Census counted 17,513.

    #2,013
    rank among US surnames
    17,926
    people in 2010
    6.1
    per 100,000 Americans
    +2.4%
    change since 2000 (was #1,881)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #2,004Barraza18,03017,124
    #2,005Hay18,02917,125
    #2,006Platt18,02217,132
    #2,007Fernandes18,01817,135
    #2,008Abreu17,99817,154
    #2,009Doty17,96517,186
    #2,010Crum17,94417,206

    Who is named Flaherty

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    96% of people named Flaherty identified as white (not Hispanic), 1.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.1% as two or more races.

    • White (not Hispanic) 96%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.8%
    • Two or more races 1.1%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 0.5%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Flahertys

    8 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Robert J. Flaherty
      American documentary filmmaker (1884-1951)
    • Daniel Flaherty
      American actor, born 1993
    • Lanny Flaherty
      American actor (1942–2024)
    • Pat Flaherty
      American actor and baseball player (1897–1970)
    • Jack Flaherty
      American baseball player (born 1995)
    • Ray Flaherty
      American football player and coach (1903-1994)
    • Ryan Flaherty
      American baseball player, born 1986
    • Stephen Flaherty
      American composer, born 1960

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Variant spellings

    Surnames that sound like Flaherty

    Flaherty has the Soundex code F463, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code F463.

    Other Irish surnames

    All 880 Irish surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Flaherty come from?
    From Irish Flaithbheartach, Flaithbheartaigh (“bright ruler”), from flaith (“prince, ruler”) + Proto-Celtic *berxtos (“bright, shining”), cognate with Proto-Germanic *berhtaz (“bright, shining”).
    How common is the surname Flaherty?
    17,926 people in the United States had the surname Flaherty in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 17,223 Americans. It ranked 2,013th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Flaherty?
    In the 2010 Census, 96% of people named Flaherty identified as white (not Hispanic), and 1.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
    Who is the most famous person named Flaherty?
    Robert J. Flaherty, American documentary filmmaker (1884-1951), followed by Daniel Flaherty.
    Where is the surname Flaherty most common?
    Wikidata records people named Flaherty in the United States.
    Is the surname Flaherty getting more or less common?
    More common. 17,513 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 17,926 in 2010, up 2.4%.
    What are other spellings of Flaherty?
    Flaharty, Fleharty and Fluharty.