| Type: | town |
| County: | Constanța |
| Official Name: | Murfatlar |
| Subdivisions: | Siminoc |
| Leader Name: | Gheorghe Cojocaru[1] |
| Leader Party: | PNL |
| Leader Term: | 2020 - 2024 |
| Coordinates: | 44.1736°N 28.4083°W |
| Elevation: | 110 |
| Area Total: | 69.25 |
| Population Total: | auto |
| Postal Code: | 905100 |
| Area Code: | (+40) 02 41 |
Murfatlar (in Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan pronounced as /murfatˈlar/) is a town in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania. It officially became a town in 1989, as a result of the Romanian rural systematization program.
The name of the town originates from the Turkish word of Arabic origin murvet (meaning "generous man").[2]
Between 1921 and 1965, and from 1975 to 2007, the locality was known as Basarabi. On June 26, 2007 the lower house of Romania's Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, approved a proposal to have the name changed back to Murfatlar,[3] which was also ratified by the Senate and promulgated by the president of Romania on December 20, 2007.[4]
Murfatlar is a port on the Danube–Black Sea Canal and has a population of 9, 173 as of 2021. A complex of caves was found carved in the hills nearby, see the Basarabi Cave Complex.
The village of Siminoc (historical name: Turc-Murfat) is administered by the town of Murfatlar. The name of the village comes from the flower Helichrysum arenarium (siminoc in Romanian), which can be found abundantly in the area.[5]
The Murfatlar Vineyard and Basarabi Cave Complex are located nearby.
At the 2021 census, Murfatlar had a population of 9,173.[6] At the 2011 census, the town had 9,634 residents; of those, 8,657 were Romanians (89.86%), 547 Tatars (5.68%), 236 Roma (2.45%), 134 Turks (1.39%), 9 Hungarians (0.09%), 3 Aromanians (0.03%), 16 others (0.17%), and 32 with undeclared ethnicity (0.33%).
Murfatlar is the birthplace of the 4th Romanian president, Traian Băsescu.