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The ancient roots of the Donning family belong to the County Cork families, especially from the South-western area known anciently as Corca Laoidhe. In the 11th century in Ireland, the frequency of travel as well as the nation's population increase encouraged many to adopt hereditary surnames so that they would not be mistaken for others that shared their first name. The surname Donning appeared as "Ó Duinnín" in Irish Gaelic. It is a patronymic name, from the most ancient of Irish naming traditions, and means 'descendent of Duinnín'. 1
The surname Donning was first found in County Cork, especially in the south-western part anciently known as Corca Laoidhe. Today the "O" prefix is extremely rare for this surname. Major changes in spellings of names occurred in Ireland after Cromwell's conquest in the early 17th century. The British colonizers Anglicized Irish names by removing Irish prefixes, translating, simplifying and standardizing the spellings. The substitution of O in the place of Mc was probably the most common of these errors. The name Donning lost it's O' at this time, and it has only rarely been revived. Also, in this era, the Gaelic name O' Duinnin of County Kerry was often anglicized to 'Downing'.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Donning research. Another 253 words (18 lines of text) covering the years 1623, 1684, 1860, 1934 and 1984 are included under the topic Early Donning History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Spelling variations of this family name include: Dinneend, Dineane, Dinneynd, Dinneyn, Dinneind, Dinneane, Dinneand, Dineent, Dineend, Dineand, Dinnean, Dineynd, Dineint, Dineyn, Dineind, Dinneant, Dinean, Dinneent, Dinneint and many more.
Another 46 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Donning Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.