When you're doing Irish family history research, an unusual name is often advantageous. However it turns out surnames can become 'endangered' and even 'extinct.' The My Heritage genealogy website has posted a clever story titled "9 Last Names on the Brink of Extinction."  I assure you 'Murphy' and 'Kelly' are not listed! According to the article, any surname with less than 200 'bearers' is considered endangered. And eventually, these names may go extinct. For example, the following names are presumed extinct since 2011:

• Bread
• McCaa
• Spinster
• Pussett, Puscat and Pussmaid
• Bythesea and Bytheseashore