Muir

• English:/mjʊə(ɹ)/●(recorded in a dictionary) from Wiktionary

Attested across 20 languages in the etymology graph.

Muir is also recorded as another name, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate name2 spellings in the group

  Also written Müir

49 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Muir is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, 'dweller by the moor'; chiefly Scottish; first attested Thomas de la More 1291 Black

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• topographic name for someone who lived on a moor, from a Scots form of Middle English more ‘moor’, ‘fen’.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, A moor.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, John, US naturalist; glacier, AK;

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In English, Edwin, Scottish poet and critic;

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• John Muirb. 1838USScottish-American naturalist (1838–1914)
• David Muirb. 1973USAmerican broadcast journalist
• Laura Muirb. 1993GBBritish middle- and long-distance runner

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

37 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 20 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Muir mean, and where does it come from?

Person who lives on or near a moor; from a Scottish variant of Middle English more. Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].

How do you pronounce Muir?

In English /mjʊə(ɹ)/ (Wiktionary).

Which countries have the most people with the surname Muir?

In the United States, the national register counted about 11 thousand people named Muir, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled muir. After it come United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and South Africa; the country table on this page ranks them.

How common is the name Muir?

In the United States, the national register counted 11,130 people named Muir in 2010, about 1 in 30 thousand residents.

How common is Muir compared with other names?

In New Zealand, Muir is the 338th most common surname of 87,225 surnames recorded there.