Duffy
Ó Dubhthaigh · descendant of Dubhthach
Duffy is Ó Dubhthaigh in Irish, said oh DOO-hig, and means descendant of Dubhthach.
Dubh means black, and Dubhthach was a common early name. The commonest surname in Monaghan, where the family were erenaghs, the hereditary keepers of church land.
How it changes
- A man: Ó Dubhthaigh
- His daughter: Ní Dhubhthaigh
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Dhubhthaigh
- The family together: Uí Dhubhthaigh
Where it comes from
Monaghan, Donegal and Roscommon
Also spelt
Duffy, O’Duffy, Duffie, Dowey
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.