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Place

Moore

Often "dweller by the moor/marsh"; also Irish Ó Mórdha and Norman "Moor" nickname streams.

Confidence
Disputed
US frequency
Rank 18 · 696,384 people
Common variants
Moor, More, Muir

Confidence: Disputed. More than one origin is plausible, or sources disagree. We show the conflict rather than pick a cute answer.

The short story

Moore looks simple and is not. The best-known English sense is topographic: someone who lived by a moor, marsh, or fen (Old English mōr), or who took a habitational name from places called Moore or More. That is why this page's type is place.

DAFN also records Norman nicknames linked to "Moor," Irish Ó Mórdha ("descendant of Mórdha"), Scottish Muir, and Welsh mawr ("big"). US Census Moore therefore mixes streams. Treat the one-sentence lead as the English moor reading, and expect other origins in real family trees.

Also seen as: Moor, More, Muir

Sources used