Murdock is an uncommon given name of Scottish origin, derived from the Old Norse personal name 'Mordakr', which is a compound of the elements 'mörðr' meaning 'famous' and 'karl' meaning 'man'. It is sometimes associated with the surname Murdock, which has both Irish and Scottish origins. Historically, the name was brought to Ireland by Norse-Gaelic settlers and later adopted by Irish families.
The name Murdock has experienced significant fluctuations in popularity over the past century and a half, with periods of high usage followed by extended periods of decline. The peak years for the name appear to be around the early to mid-1900s, with notable spikes in 1920 (9 births), 1941 (9 births), and 1953 (7 births). However, there have been substantial drops in usage as well, particularly between the 1960s and 1980s, where the name was used infrequently. More recently, the popularity of Murdock has seen a resurgence, with several years since 2015 having higher birth counts than any other year in recent history (13 births in 2016, 11 births in 2017). Overall, the total number of births given the name Murdock over this period is 335.