Murray
Masculine · “seaboard settlement”
Murray is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 21,908 boys against 391 girls since 1880.
Murray is a Scottish province. Moray, on the Moray Firth, gave its name to one of the great earldoms of Scotland, and the surname came from the land rather than from any person.
How old is the name Murray?
Murray was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Murray alive today was born around 1930, making them about 95 years old. About 7,300 people named Murray are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Murray most popular?
Murray peaked in 1922, reaching #206 nationally. Today it ranks #2604, 2,398 places below that high. See the whole 1922 chart.
Murray appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Moray to Murray
The story of Murray
Moray was a Pictish and then a Scottish province, and its earls were among the most powerful men in the kingdom — Thomas Randolph and later the Regent Moray both held it. The surname spread widely, and Scottish emigration carried it to America, where it crossed into given-name use in the nineteenth century. Murray peaked in American records around 1920.
Meaning
seaboard settlement
From the Scottish province of Moray, whose name is generally read from a Celtic root meaning 'sea' plus a suffix — the seaboard settlement, which describes the Moray Firth coast exactly. The surname is territorial: the Murrays took it from the land they held.
How the name formed
- Moray
- Murray
Related forms: Moray · Moireach
Pronouncing Murray
MUH-ree
Two syllables, stress on the first. Murray and Moray are said the same way in Scotland.
Nicknames for Murray
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1921604 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #206reached in 1922
- Change vs 2022
- +6.4%50 in 2025, from 47
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Murray in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Moray in Scottish — spelling variant
- Moireach in Scottish Gaelic — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Colorado, Georgia. International figures from National Records of Scotland. Sources
Murrays among us
people named Murray are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 34,162 born in 2025 was named Murray
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Erwin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Murray's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Erwin climbed just as high around 1901, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Erwin's path sketches the road Murray is walking now.
Murray sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Murray is headed
Murray should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Murray beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Murray in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Scottish province and one of the great earldoms stand behind it.
- The meaning is concrete and describes a real coastline.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- It reads as a surname to many people, which is what it was for eight hundred years.
- It is strongly period-coded to the early twentieth century.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Murray to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Murray? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Murray
Masculine · #2604 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Murrays are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,300 people named Murray are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Murray in 2025?
- Murray ranks #2604 among US boy names in 2025, with 50 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Murray?
- About 1 in every 34,162 US boys born in 2025 was named Murray — 50 in all.
- Will my child share the name Murray with classmates?
- Murray will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Murray
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Yahia#2604 · Larson#2604 · Mazin#2604 · Rowe#2604 · Hendrik#2604 · Dayvon#2604 · Kipton#2604 · Finlay#2604
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Murray? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Murray and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle