Origin and popularity of the name MORRIS

Origin

Morris : 1: English and Scottish: from Maurice an Old French personal name introduced to Britain by the Normans. It is derived from Latin Mauritius a derivative of Maurus (see Moore). This was the name of several early Christian saints. In some cases it may be a nickname of the same derivation for someone with a swarthy complexion.2: Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Muirghis a variant of Ó Muirgheasa (see Morrissey).3: Welsh: Anglicized form of the personal name Meurig (from Latin Mauritius) which was gradually superseded in Wales by Morus Morys a derivative of the Anglo-Norman French form of the name (see 1 above).4: German: variant of Moritz and in North America (also) an altered form of this.5: Americanized form of French Maurice a cognate of 1 above.6: Americanized form of various like-sounding Jewish surnames (see Morse).

Orpwood : altered form of Orpet (earlier Orpede Orpud) in which the final syllable has been re-interpreted by folk etymology as a weakly stressed pronunciation of -wood. Compare Rchd Orpud 1608 Dattin Orpwood 1737 in IGI (Bampton Oxon); Morris Orpitt 1623 Thomas Orpwood 1730 in IGI (Holborn Middx); John Orpitt 1644 Mary Orpwood 1799 James Orpood 1805 in IGI (Stepney Middx). The final syllable was also sometimes re-interpreted as a weak pronunciation of -head or -hood: Thomas Orpiet 1684 Edward Orphed Edward Orphod 1718 Elizabeth Orpwood 1816 in IGI (Abingdon Berks).

Waughman : of uncertain origin. The late emergence the London distribution and the presence of Morris Wachman born in Russia in Census 1891 (London) suggests an anglicization of the German or Jewish surname Wachmann ‘watchman’ rather than an English compound with Waugh.

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Last name frequency

Geographic distribution of the 204,417 individuals with the name MORRIS on Geneanet.

This last name in the family trees

See below the Geneanet members' family trees which contain the last name MORRIS