Daly
Ó Dálaigh · descendant of Dálach
Daly is Ó Dálaigh in Irish, said oh DAW-lee, and means descendant of Dálach.
Dálach means one who attends assemblies. The Ó Dálaigh were the great bardic family of Ireland, hereditary poets to half the chieftains in the country for four hundred years.
How it changes
- A man: Ó Dálaigh
- His daughter: Ní Dhálaigh
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Dhálaigh
- The family together: Uí Dhálaigh
Where it comes from
Westmeath, then Cork, Clare and Galway
Also spelt
Daly, O’Daly, Dayly, Dawley
A name, not a pedigree
This is where the name came from, which is not the same as where you came from. Names were translated, anglicised, taken on by tenants and neighbours, and carried in by settlers who were no relation to the family that started them. To follow your own line, the 1901 and 1911 censuses are free and searchable, and give the county each person was born in.