O’Donnell
Ó Domhnaill · descendant of Domhnall
O’Donnell is Ó Domhnaill in Irish, said oh DOH-nil, and means descendant of Domhnall.
Domhnall means world-mighty, from domhan, the world. Red Hugh O’Donnell and Hugh O’Neill led the last Gaelic war against the Tudors, and left together in the Flight of the Earls in 1607.
How it changes
- A man: Ó Domhnaill
- His daughter: Ní Dhomhnaill
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Dhomhnaill
- The family together: Uí Dhomhnaill
Where it comes from
Donegal
Also spelt
O’Donnell, Donnell, Donald, MacDonnell
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.