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    The surname McMurtry

    A patronymic surname, carried by 2,606 people in the United States.

    3 syllables Soundex M256

    McMurtry: #11,984 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer McMurtry #11,984, 2,606 people McMurtry: #11,984 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez McMurtry #11,984, 2,606 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). McMurtry is more common than 92.6% of them.

    Origin

    Anglicized form of Northern Irish and Scottish Gaelic Mac Muircheartaigh (“son of Muircheartach”), a personal name composed of the elements muir (“sea”) + ceartach (“ruler”). Compare McCurdy and Moriarty.

    McMurtry is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 2,606 people named McMurtry in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 118,475 Americans. That is up 4.5% since 2000, when the Census counted 2,494.

    #11,984
    rank among US surnames
    2,606
    people in 2010
    0.9
    per 100,000 Americans
    +4.5%
    change since 2000 (was #11,564)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #11,977Fleshman2,608118,384
    #11,982McCay2,607118,429
    #11,984Laclair2,606118,475
    #11,988Burchard2,605118,520
    #11,993Chubb2,604118,566

    Who is named McMurtry

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

    78% of people named McMurtry identified as white (not Hispanic), 16% as Black (not Hispanic) and 3.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 78%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 16%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.0%
    • Two or more races 2.3%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.8%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous McMurtrys

    2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Larry McMurtry
      American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter (1936-2021)
    • James McMurtry
      American rock and folk-rock/americana singer-songwriter and guitarist, born 1962

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like McMurtry

    McMurtry has the Soundex code M256, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code M256.

    Questions

    Where does the surname McMurtry come from?
    Anglicized form of Northern Irish and Scottish Gaelic Mac Muircheartaigh (“son of Muircheartach”), a personal name composed of the elements muir (“sea”) + ceartach (“ruler”). Compare McCurdy and Moriarty.
    How common is the surname McMurtry?
    2,606 people in the United States had the surname McMurtry in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 118,475 Americans. It ranked 11,984th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname McMurtry?
    In the 2010 Census, 78% of people named McMurtry identified as white (not Hispanic), and 16% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named McMurtry?
    Larry McMurtry, American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter (1936-2021), followed by James McMurtry.
    Where is the surname McMurtry most common?
    Wikidata records people named McMurtry in the United States.
    What type of surname is McMurtry?
    McMurtry is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
    Is the surname McMurtry getting more or less common?
    More common. 2,494 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 2,606 in 2010, up 4.5%.