Moriarty Family Crest, Coat of Arms & Moriarty Name Origin

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Origin of the Name Moriarty

The Moriarty family history was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. include Moriartie and Murtagh. Moriarty is O'Muircheartaigh in Irish but in modern times the prefix is never attached to this name, though the form O'Moriarty and McMoriarty are found in old records. The sept, which is of the same origin as the O'Donoghues and the O'Mahonys, has always been associated with Kerry . Their original territory lay on both sides of Castlemaine Harbour. Modern statistics indicate that ninety per cent of the births registered in the name of Moriarty take place in Kerry . The Most Rev. David Moriarty, 1814-1877, Bishop of Kerry , was remarkable for his opposition not only to the Fenians but also to Home Rule. Other minor septs in that part of the country were soon submerged after the Anglo-Norman invasion but their descendants have survived, not however as Moriarty, but as Murtagh, and this name is fairly numerous in the midlands.