Murtha
An Irish surname often treated as a spelling variant of names like Murtagh or Murdoch, with roots in older Gaelic and related forms.
The #9,137 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 86,411 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The sources group Murtha with spellings such as Murtagh, Murdoch, Murt, and Murta, suggesting it is usually a variant form rather than a wholly separate name. In Irish usage it is commonly connected with Gaelic names built on personal-name roots beginning with Muir-/Muirt-/Muirch-, though older writers did not always distinguish these forms consistently. The literal meaning is therefore not fully certain from the excerpts alone, but it belongs to the broad family of Gaelic surnames and nickname-based forms that were later Anglicized in several ways.
History
The name appears in Irish surname lists and index-like references in 19th- and early-20th-century scholarship, where it is treated as a recognized but relatively uncommon form. It seems to have circulated as one of several spelling variants shaped by English orthography and local pronunciation. In the United States it remains uncommon, consistent with an Irish-origin surname that survived in a limited number of family lines.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname dictionaries often filed Murtha beside a whole cluster of similar names, showing how fluid spelling could be before modern standardization.
From the historical record
“Murtaugh, Murdough, Mur- doch, Murdock, Murdow, Murtha, Murta, Murdy, Murt ; Mortimer. triAC TiluiiiccAHCAij, MacCurdy, MacKurdy, MacKirdy.”
— Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish names and surnames