McMurdo Family Crest, Coat of Arms & McMurdo Name Origin

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Origin of the Name McMurdo

The origin of the name McMurdo was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. The name McMurdo is usually of Scottish Gaelic descent and is derived from the Gaelic MacMuircheartaigh sept whose native name was anglicized in a number of different ways including Mordie, McMordie, Brearty, McMurty, Murtagh, McMurtie and McMurtry. In Ireland the sept was located in Counties Donegal and Antrim in the very northern part of Ireland . Some bearers of these names are derived from the Scottish Clan Stuart of Bute with the name being found in many ancient manuscripts in Scotland . Examples of such are an Evarus MacMurdo who was recorded as being a tenant in Kintyre in the year 1506. A John MacMurdo was recorded in the Parish of Dunskoir in the year 1675. Names were recorded in these ancient documents to make it easier for the overlords to collect taxes and to keep records of the population at any given time. When the overlords acquired lands by either force or as gifts from their rulers, they created charters of ownership for themselves and their vassals.