Murphy (Ó Murchadha) is one of the most common surnames in Ireland. In older records, the name is found in every province, in every county. There are very few parishes without Murphys or some variant. They were probably sparsest in County Donegal.

If you are more than a few generations removed from a Murphy ancestor and have no clues as to their origin in Ireland, the ancestry can be difficult-to-impossible to research.

The more recognizable spelling variants in older records include Molphy, Morphy and Mulphy. There are many more.

Some Murphys in the Castletown district of County Cork used the name Mahies or Makies.

See references on the main surname page. The Riobard Ó Dwyer books would cover the Castletown area.

This section will list interesting genealogical record references as they are discovered.