The Moore Family of  Clones 

Surnames refer to a hereditary name common to all members of a family. Two main classes of surnames have been identified monogenetic and polygenetic. Monogenetic surnames are those having a single origin, as Hanks and Hodges states “often being derived from just one original bearer or family of bearers at one particular place and time”.

In contrast names of polygenetic origins, having developed in a number of different places and at different times, (Murphy, 2013) an as such tend to be widespread and have a high frequency (Bloothooft, 2011).

Murphy (2013) states that surnames can be further “divided into four broad classes, namely, those derived from ancestral personal names or patronymics, those derived from place names or toponymics, occupational names derived from trade or status, and descriptive names referring to an individual’s person or appearance”.

The surname Moore is of polygenetic origin, Bell (1988) reports that the surname has origins in England, Scotland and Ireland. Hanks and Hodges (1989) also adds Wales to this list of countries of origin.  As a result a number of different explanations have been given as to the meaning of the name.

Bell (1988) puts forward that in England the name may derive from an old personal name More, from the French name Maur, Latin Maurus meaning Moor, this being a surname describing someone of dark skin. A second origin, he gives for the name in England, is topographical in nature referring to someone who lived in or near a moor.  

Hanks and Hodges (1989) and Bell (1988) both list the Irish origin of the name as the Gaelic name Ó Mórdha, from the word mórdha which means stately, noble (Bell, 1988) or great and proud( Hanks and Hodges, 1989).

In Scotland and Wales it is most commonly a nickname for a large man derived from the word mór meaning big (Hanks and Hodges).

 

Bell lists the name Moore as being among the 20 most common names in Ireland and is to be found in every county, whilst MacLysaght (1985) describes is as being “widespread throughout Ireland”. The high frequency of this surname can be seen by the number of people in the 1901 and 1901 census for the Island of Ireland listed with this name;

Year of Census	Number of persons with the surname Moore
1901	15,428
1911	15,397

Number of people with the Surname Moore in 1901 and 1911 Census of Ireland

 

It is most numerous in Antrim and Dublin (MacLysaght, 1985), with one quarter of all the Moore’s in Ireland being found in Antrim (Bell, 1988).