Murphy

[goingfortwo]

Murphy for a girls name?
We really like it would like to know what other people think

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

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

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'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.

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.

"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.

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.

A name for a dog or a horse. Sorry

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!

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

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

And as Oirish.

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

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.

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

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

It just makes me think of Murphy's Law.

As in "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong".

Murphy and Hector thanks for the laugh OP

I've always loved this name but I'd pair it with a really feminine middle name.

I fucking hope you have a boy...but then the poor little bugger will be called Hector

What's your surname, OP? Would you give that to your daughter as a first name? Would you call her Bloggs? Jones? Davies? Smith? Braithwaite? Barker? Hodgson? Because that's pretty much exactly what you're proposing.

It's one of those threads where you hope someone IS trolling baby names. It's less awful than someone calling a baby girl Murphy.

God no.

Why would you do that to a poor baby girl?

'Murphy' is the name my son uses when he feels he should give a false name. John Murphy.

I know a little Hector, and while it's never going to be one of my favourite names, it doesn't seem to causing him any problems.

Plus Hector is a classical boys name, although the classical Hector from the Trojan Wars didn't meet a happy end.