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Murphy Name History

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Murphy Coat of Arms

The history of the name Murphy dates back to a time before the Irish names were translated into English and probably before the written word. The original Gaelic form of Murphy was O Murchadha or Mac Murchadha, which are both derived from the word Murchadha meaning "sea warrior". Name variations include Murchoe, MacMurrough, Murfhy, Morphy, and Murfee. Murphy is said to be the most popular surname in Ireland and from our 20 years of coat of arms research, it is the number one Irish surname in the USA.

Our item #1760 Framed Irish Family Name History has more information on the Murphy surname.

Fun Facts about Murphy

There's the "Murphy Bed," that ingenious design to store a bed into a wall to conserve space. Or Patrick Murphy, who was born in 1832 in County Down and was the tallest man in Europe, standing 8 feet 1 inch.

Murphy's Law

And let's not forget about "Murphy's Law." Here's the story on how Murphy's Law entered the English language.

Born in 1917, Edward A. Murphy, Jr. was one of the engineers on the rocket-sled experiments that were done by the United States Air Force in 1949 to test human acceleration tolerances (USAF project MX981). One experiment involved a set of 16 accelerometers mounted to different parts of the subject's body. There were two ways each sensor could be glued to its mount. Of course, somebody managed to install all 16 the wrong way around. Murphy then made the original form of his pronouncement, which the test subject, Major John Paul Stapp, quoted at a news conference a few days later. Within months, 'Murphy's Law' had spread to various technical cultures connected to aerospace engineering, and finally reached the Webster's dictionary in 1958. Tragically (and perhaps typically), the popular cliche we call 'Murphy's Law' was never uttered by Edward Murphy. The original pronouncement was, If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it.

Gifts for the Murphys in your life

The Irish Rose has a large selection of Murphy coat of arms items. We feature Murphy heraldry on popular gift items like the Ireland Coat of Arms Flag and the Irish Coat of Arms Pint Glass. Any of our coat of arm items would make a lovely wedding, engagement, anniversary, or reunion gift. Visit our Coat of Arms page to see all the products featuring the authentic Irish Murphy coat of arms.

Visit one of the many Murphy's Pubs in Ireland

We had no trouble coming up with a list of Murphy Pubs to visit in Ireland. If you're a Murphy, make sure to drop by one of these fine establishments.

If you can't visit a Murphy's Pub in person, our personalized pub gifts are the next best thing!

Notable Murphys

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