Where the Moore name comes from

Moore is usually the Middle English mor, open land or bog, and it named whoever lived beside a moor or a heath. The old Irish Moores are a different family altogether: O Mordha, from the Gaelic mordha, meaning stately and noble. The Anglo-Norman Moores who settled in Munster after the invasion are called de Mora in Irish, which is a phonetic rendering of the English name rather than a translation of it. The surname was in daily use long before most people could write it down, which is why it comes in so many spellings.