There have been several important people by the name of John Murray (roughly in chronological order):

• John Murray (1660-1724), 1st Duke of Atholl
• John Muray (1730–1809), Lord Dunmore, colonial governor of Virginia
• John Murray (minister) (1741-1815), "father of American Universalism"
• John Murray (aristocrat) , Lord of the Isle of Man from 1764 to 1765
• John Murray , the English former cricketer
• John Murray (publisher), London publishing house of Jane Austen, Lord Byron and Charles Darwin, associated with seven generations of people called John Murray.
• John Murray (American congressman) , served as a representative from 1817 to 1820
• Sir John Murray (oceanographer), 1841-1914, "founder of modern oceanography"
• John Wilson Murray , police detective born in England who worked in the United States and Canada during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• John Murray (VC), the recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Archbishop John Gregory Murray , Archbishop of Saint Paul from 1931 to 1956
• John Murray (Australian politician) , Premier of Victoria from 1909 to 1912
• John Murray (theologian), 1898-1975, Calvinist theologian, Presbyterian minister, professor at Princeton Seminary, and Westminster Theological Seminary.
• John Murray (actor) , born 1958, starred in Moving Violations
  • There are at least a dozen other minor actors named John Murray
• John Joseph Murray , stock broker and founder of Putt for Progress , killed in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack