Moriarty - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó Muircheartaigh
Meaning: “skilled navigator of the sea”
Traditional stronghold: Kerry
Pronunciation: morr-ee-AR-tee; Irish Ó Muircheartaigh: oh mwir-KYAR-tig
History of the Moriarty name
Moriarty is Ó Muircheartaigh, from muircheartach, 'skilled navigator of the sea', a fitting name for a sept whose lands lay along both shores of Castlemaine Harbour on the Dingle Peninsula in Kerry. Unlike many septs displaced by conquest, the Moriartys never really left: the name has remained concentrated in Kerry for nearly a thousand years, and it is still rare to meet a Moriarty whose people do not trace back there. The surname gained curious international fame when Arthur Conan Doyle borrowed it for Professor James Moriarty, the arch-enemy of Sherlock Holmes.
Variants: Moriarity · O'Moriarty · Murtagh (erroneously)
Famous bearers of the name
- Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh - Kerry-born broadcaster whose GAA commentaries made him a national institution.
- David Moriarty - Nineteenth-century Bishop of Kerry remembered for his fierce denunciation of the Fenians.
- Michael Moriarty - Emmy and Tony-winning American actor of Law and Order fame.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: O'Sullivan · O'Connor · McCarthy · O'Connell · Fitzgerald · O'Shea · Griffin · Kelleher