Morrow (surname)

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LanguageGaelic
Word/nameMoireach, Moireabh
MeaningCoastal Settlement
Region of originIreland or Scotland
Morrow
LanguageGaelic
Origin
Word/nameMoireach, Moireabh
MeaningCoastal Settlement
Region of originIreland or Scotland
Other names
Variant formsMorrah, Murray, Moray, Murrow, MacMorrow, MacMurray

Morrow is an anglicized surname of Irish or Scottish origins.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

Morrow is, ultimately, a variant of Murray. The older pronunciation of Murray (or Moray) in Scots was Morrah[9], which led to it being variously written down throughout Scottish history as Morrow, Morow, Morra, Murra, Morro, Morwe, Murrow, and Morrewe.[10][11][12][13][14]

It was brought to Ireland by Scottish settlers during the Plantation of Ulster[15][16][17] and is most common in those areas most heavily-settled by Scots, with the majority of Irish Morrows in 1901 and 1911 being Presbyterian.[18] The name is still pronounced Morrah in much of Ulster today, but especially in those areas most heavily settled by Scots.[19] The name was also taken to the American Colonies by Ulster Scots emigrants, who would become known as the Scotch-Irish. The interchangeability between the names Murray and Morrow is evident throughout Scottish, Irish, and American history.

  • In the Parish of Seagoe, County Armagh, in 1704 Mary Murray was born to Jonathan Murray and his wife Elizabeth. Jonathan died in 1705 and was recorded as Jonathan Marra. When Mary married in the 1720s, her name was written Mary Murrah, with ‘Morrow’ written in brackets above it. [20]
  • In the Hearth Money Rolls for the Parish of Ballinderry, in County Antrim, the names Murray and Morrow are used interchangeably for the same men between 1666 and 1669. In 1666 one man is recorded as Adam Murray, but come 1669 the same man is found under Adam Morrow.[21]
  • Adam Murray was a soldier who fought during the Siege of Derry, and was the son of a Scot from Selkirkshire, who had settled in County Londonderry. Murray signed his name ‘Adam Morrow’ on a letter to King William and Queen Mary, after the relief of the siege. [22]
  • On a headstone in Colvend Kirkyard, in Kirkcudbrightshire, the inscription lists John Morrow (1734-1810) and his wife Janet Milbie (1736-1818), above their children James Murray, Robert Murray, and Mary Murray; a very clear example of the interchangeability of the two names. (In memory of John Morrow, who died at Dalbeattie the 4th May 1810, aged 76 years…Also of James Murray, their son, who died at Roughfurth on the 28th February 1852, aged 80 years…Robert Murray, died at Roughfourth, August 16th 1865, aged 63 years. Mary Murray, died at Kippford, 29th March 1887, aged 76 years).[23]
  • James Morow was a Scottish captain in the Danish-Norwegian Army between 1627 and 1628. He was part of Erskine’s Horse, and his name was variously spelt Morow, Morra, Marra, and Murray.[24]
  • In Poyntzpass, Co. Armagh, the name has been recorded under three spellings: Morrow, Morragh, and Murrow. In Griffith's Valuation, in 1864, William Morrow (1798-1864) was recorded in the townland of Druminargal as William Murrow; yet on his death registration (also in 1864) his name is William Morrow. His father, Alexander Morrow, was a farmer in the townland of Tullynacross, and appears in both the 1830 Tithe Applotment Books and the 1831 Map of the Manor of Acton. In 1865, also in Tullynacross, William Morrow (junior; 1837-1914) was recorded on a civil birth registration as William Morragh. On the baptismal register in Poyntzpass Presbyterian Church, however, his name is spelt William Morrow.[25][26][27][28]
  • Morayshire has also, on headstones and in diaries, been spelt ‘Morrowshire’; another example of this fluidity.[29][30]
  • As part of the emigration of Ulster Covenanters, led by Rev. William Martin, the passenger ship Lord Dunluce left Larne for Charleston, South Carolina, in December 1772. Amongst the passengers listed in Irish sources was David Murray. Upon arrival in Charleston, he appears as David Morrow.[31][32]
  • Hugh Morrah (1764-1837) of Abbeville, South Carolina, had his name variously spelt Morrow, Morrah, Marrah, and Morroh, throughout his life. His headstone reads 'Hugh Morah, Esquire'.[33][34]

Some of the earliest recorded of the name were the Dumfries-born, Thomas Morrow, abbot of Paisley between 1418 and 1444,[12] Duncan Morrow, witness to an ordination in 1503 at Kirkinner, Wigtownshire,[35] Walter Morrow, a member of the convent at Kelso, Roxburghshire in 1548,[36][37] Davy Morrow, bailie of Annan in 1592,[38][39] and John Morrow & Christopher Morrow, two Scottish soldiers who were taken prisoner after the battle of Solway Moss in 1542.[40]

Irish

The name is suspected to have been used to anglicize a number of Irish Gaelic names, mainly surnames which include muir, meaning sea, which were also made as Morrogh, Murrow and Moroghoe. In Petty's Census of 1659, O'Morrow and McMarrowe are recorded. However, it is more common for these Irish names to have been anglicized as 'McMorrow' rather than the Scottish 'Morrow' on its own.

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