O’Donoghue
Ó Donnchadha · descendant of Donnchadh
O’Donoghue is Ó Donnchadha in Irish, said oh DUN-a-khoo, and means descendant of Donnchadh.
Donnchadh means brown warrior. O’Donoghue of the Glens held Killarney, and folklore has him rising out of the lake every seventh year on a white horse.
How it changes
- A man: Ó Donnchadha
- His daughter: Ní Dhonnchadha
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Dhonnchadha
- The family together: Uí Dhonnchadha
Where it comes from
Kerry and Cork
Also spelt
O’Donoghue, Donoghue, Donahue, Dunphy
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.