Morris (surname)


Morris is a surname of various origins, though mostly of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh origins. In 2014, the surname ranked 39 out of 104,537 in England, and 55 out of 400,980 in the United States.
According to the 1881 UK Census, the vast majority of people with the surname Morris were located in Lancashire, England ; with significant concentrations in London, Glamorgan, and the West Midlands. Now more widespread across the UK, a total of 95,101 individuals with this surname were recorded across the country in 2016.
The German language has the equivalent Moritz, Morris can be used as an English translation.

Origins

Moors

Morris can be derived from the personal name Maurice or Moreis. Meurig is the Welsh equivalent with Morus and Morys Anglicisations of the Welsh form also found. The name is traced through Middle English, Old French and Latin Mauritius 'Moorish, dark, swarthy'; from Maurus 'a Moor'. It was the name of the 3rd century Christian martyr Saint Maurice.

Marshes

Ó Muiris and, less commonly, de Moiréis in Irish; the Morris surname in Ireland is predominantly of Norman origin. It comes from the Norman "de Mareys", "de Marreis" and Latin "de Marisco", i.e., "of the marsh". It is a common surname in many parts of the south of Ireland, especially in Kilkenny, Tipperary, Offaly, Laois, Cork and Limerick, where it is now anglicised as Morris. A family of the name settled, in 1485, at Galway and became one of the Tribes of Galway. It may also refer to "descendant of Muiris", a variant of Ó Muireasa. This was the name of a branch of the Uí Fiachrach who were formerly chiefs of a district on the southern shore of Sligo Bay, in the barony of Tireragh. The name would later be adopted by the Morrises outside of Sligo.

Notable people with the surname "Morris"

Disambiguation of common given names with this surname

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