Surname ranking in the Republic of Ireland

This ranking lists the 200 most common surnames in the Republic of Ireland, ordered by the number of families that bear them. For each surname you will find its rank, the surname and the number of families; click a name to open the map of its distribution.

First place goes to Murphy, with 9,515 families, ahead of Kelly (7,163) and Walsh (5,993).

Irish names reveal their Gaelic origin: Murphy and Kelly are anglicised forms of Ó Murchadha and Ó Ceallaigh, and names with the prefix O' (“descendant of”) or Mac (“son of”) are among the most common, such as O'Brien (6th), O'Sullivan (7th), O'Connor (8th) and McCarthy (10th). Walsh (3rd), “the Welshman”, recalls the Anglo-Norman settlers of the 12th century. Read more on the Surname history page.

On this page: ranks 1 to 100, from Murphy (9,515 families) to Costello (928 families).