The mori Surname

mori Name Meaning and History

Japanese: variously written, but most often with a character meaning ‘forest’, and denoting the sacred grove around a Shinto shrine. The character used to list the name in the Shinsen shojiroku means ‘guard’ or ‘keeper’. The name is mostly found in west-central Japan, the island of Shikoku, and in the Ryukyu Islands. Another name, properly Romanized as Mori, is written phonetically with the characters for ‘hair’ and ‘advantage’, but bearers of this name are also of the original Mori family. There were several daimyo families named Mori, the greatest originating in Aki (now part of Hiroshima prefecture). From their base in Choshu (Nagato: now part of Yamaguchi prefecture), they ruled much of western Honshu in the 16th century, until restricted by Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu to Choshu.
Italian: patronymic form of Moro.
German (Möri): from a pet form of the personal name Morhart (see Morath).
Hungarian (Móri): habitational name for someone from a place called Mór in Fejér county of Hungary.
Hungarian: patronymic from the personal name Mór, from Latin Maurus.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

Learn the meaning and history of your first name

Share this page with friends and family

mori Family Facts

Distribution of mori Families in the US in 1920

Number of mori families

73-144

25-72

1-24

Compiled by Ancestry.co.uk from the 1920 US Federal Census records

Click on a state to view mori census records

Year

You can decide where (in which states) to start searching for mori records.
You can see how mori families moved over time by selecting different Census years.

The information for this map came from Ancestry.co.uk’s US Federal Census Collection.

Census records can tell you little-known facts about your ancestors such as birthplace, residence and occupation.
Click here to search mori census records.

Threads: 18 - Messages: 37

Thread	Author	Replies
Mori Family From Japan	ilyssasmom	2
Mori of Italy, Peru, and Japan	glloyddw	0
My Mori family in Japan	teresa_abalos1983	0
South Florida Mori family	Karian_Liz07	1
Mori from Japan	neault99	0
looking for half sister	daisy spicuzza	1
Obit: Mary Dellie (Madison) Mori b. 1915 d. 19 Nov 1962 Hammondsport, Steuben, NY	Jean Kay Morse	0
Peitro Mori	Mikalyne Mori Edgerton	8
Mori Family of Japan	Serena Neault	3
Mori Family in Japan	Jason Harmon	1

Viewing 1-10 of 18 | Go to the full board

Enter a few simple facts about your family. We'll use what you enter to try and find more.

Anonymously contact one of the Ancestry members researching the mori last name.
Search for Ancestry members researching one of your specific ancestors.
Create or update your own Ancestry member profile so that other members can anonymously contact you.
Find out how to get help from other Ancestry members through this tutorial.