Munro
A Scottish clan surname, probably from a territorial name meaning “mouth of the Roe,” though later tradition also linked it to Ross-shire origins.
The #5,067 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 44,629 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is usually explained as a Scottish clan name from Gaelic tradition, with one older interpretation deriving it from a place-name meaning “mouth of the Roe” in County Derry: bun-roe, “river mouth” + Roe, the river name. That explanation treats the family as originally coming from Ireland before becoming established in the Highlands. Other 19th-century sources simply treat Munro as a Scottish clan surname and equate it with the spellings Monro and Monroe.
History
Munro is an ancient Highland clan name, strongly associated with the area north of the Cromarty Firth. Historical writers in the 19th and early 20th centuries often discussed it as a territorial rather than occupational surname, and the name has long been common in Scotland and its diaspora. In English-language records it also appears in the spellings Monro and Monroe.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A Gaelic form recorded by Macbain is Rothach, a clan name used for Munro in Highland tradition.
From the historical record
“MUNNS (A.-Fr.) Munn's (Son) : v. Munn. MUNRO MUNROE \ = Monro, Monroe, q.v. MUNSEY =■ Mounsey, q.v. MUNT (A.-Fr.-Lat.) Dweller at a Mount [M.E. munt, mont, Fr. mont, Lat. mons, month, a”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)