Murphy

we are from Kent so I doubt she will be called spud

My Surrey/London mother refers to potatoes as "spud murpheys"

DH wanted Murphy for DC4 MN due to the interstellar movie. Girl or boy. But an ex of mine had a dog called Murphy so every time he says it, it grates on me. I've talked him out of it.

I called our pony Murphy....love the name but for an animal not a human, sorry

And as Oirish.

Because Murphys are as common as potatoes in Ireland, BennytheBall.

Murphy is God awful for a girl!! Seriously why would you do that to your child??

I work with a lady called Murphy. She's a serious, bookish, chubby middle aged woman and really does not suit such a clunky name. Also, our customers on email/ phone assume Murphy is a man because it's traditionally a boy's name so she is constantly having to explain she's a lady!

A name for a dog or a horse. Sorry

I don't get why Murphy might get called something to do with potatoes

Nonetheless, it is an atrocious name to saddle a child with.

"As for the people that pointed out she would probably be shorten down to Murf or even Smurf we had considered that and we probably would call her either of those as a little nickname whilst she is little, we are from Kent so I doubt she will be called spud"

She will be called Spud.
Or Chips.
Or maybe even Mash.

There are many unique, unusual and attractive names. Murphy isn't one of them. I think you should be thankful that you have received an unvarnished response here before committing a child to a lifetime of saying 'Yes, it's Murphy. Yes, the Irish surname. Yes, my parents knew about the potato thing...'

I agree with the cultural appropriation point made by Harriet. It's distasteful.

And there's more to it.
Many Irish surnames are composed of old first names (the Irish surname system of Mac and O and Nic and Ni basically refers to son of and daughter of). So use of those names as first names is in accord with an old tradition.

However, when Anglicised, the feminine forms of the surnames were cast aside. Everyone became Murphy or O'Neill or McGuinness, etc. instead of ní Mhurchú or ní Néill or nic Aonghusa.

The feminine form 'ní' or nic, lost in English, means daughter of - it results in a séimhiú (softening/lenition) in the spelling of the last name if it starts with any letter apart from N, L and R - son of Murphy is not subject to lenition and is Ó Murchú (pronounced oh murr-uh-khu) while daughter of Murphy is ní Mhurchú (pronounced nee wurr-uh-khu).

You are basically giving a girl an Anglicised version of the male surname.

Sorry but I have to agree with everyone else. I'm Irish and feel like I know hundreds of murphys...as a surname. Also a couple of dogs.

I was questioning why I have such a strong reaction to it and I think it's because it's a kind of cultural appropriation but gone wrong. To me it's like people who get tattoos in Japanese or mandarin but it's spelled wrong so actually says bum hole rather than peace or something. You might think it's nice and unique but loads of others will think it's awful and/or stupid.

Saying that, Ryan has been used as a first name for ages and somehow doesn't seem as bad.

I'm trying to think of a surname-as-first-name than sounds more blokey than Murphy. Maybe Briggs or Bloggs or something like that?

What about Delaney? It's an Irish surname too but sounds slightly more feminine.

It's always the kid I feel sorry for in these threads.

If she happens to be confident, feisty and thick-skinned then she might just carry it off and make it her own.

But if not... years of teasing, hating it, resenting you for making her life so much harder. This happened to my DM (though not as bad as Murphy) who in turn gave me the gift of a very common name, and I've always been grateful that she didn't make me have the same experience.

Hope you have a boy.

I know a girl called Murphy who lives in Australia. It actually really suits her.

Remember that it is your child who has to live with it. Forever. Or until they change it.

It is a truly awful name. Why on earth would you do that to your child??

we love Murphy for a girl it's unique and there definitely won't be more than one in her class at school!

That's because it's a crap name for a girl. Not that a name has to be pretty' but this is really ugly sounding. As is "Murf" for a nickname.

Nobody's mentioned Murphy Brown?! I loved that show as a kid.

Apart from being a surname, it completely lacks elegance. Little Murphy will be a grown woman one day with a clunky boys name.

I know beauty is subjective but Murphy has so many not-beautiful associations.

It's the name of so many stereotypical Irish working men in dramas or jokes - the thickset grizzled guy in the pub called by his surname. And it looks so stolid and heavy as a word. And it's a really, really common surname as well as being used to mean potato. And Murphy's Law is that anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

It isn't unique. It's very common. It's just very common as a surname.

It is however marginally better than Murfee which is truly hideous.

You're right, I wouldn't say it to your face. But I would pull a face about it in private.

I kind of agree that a name doesn't have to be 'unique' or unusual to be beautiful, but I wouldn't like to use some of the names most commonly used myself if I could help it. Mainly because I don't like a lot of them. I won't list them, but the ones I don't like tend to fall into these categories; 'cute, cheeky chappy' names (for boys) and 'cute, pretty, girly' names (for girls). Again I don't "feel desperately sorry" for children with those names though. It's just their parents' taste.

Its my Mums maiden name - I like it.

Please don't - our dog is called Murphy/Murph. It's not great for a child.

Phillip is a dog's name? Not quite with you there. Ditto Jack & Harry. Rex does seem to lean more towards canines. Point about it being a "dog's name" is that it is more often used for a dog than a human. Some are maybe evenly weighted, Tom is a person name & a cat name.

Sometimes we ask a question because we're not sure of our own mind. That may be the case here, in which case seeing all the "no!"'s has strengthened your resolve.

Fwiw, I've never understood the attraction of the unique name thing. "My name is Mary, it's spelled Mare-eeee" - what's the point. A name that is not often used does not make you an unusual or better or kinder person. Not having a dig, I just don't understand the point? There's so many less-used names that people won't dislike, why go for one you know that either people dislike or can't spell (talking to you, parents of Mare-eee named children).