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| Origins Available: |
| | Ireland |
The original Gaelic form of the Irish name O'Durnint was Ó Duirnin or Ó Dornian, possibly derived from the word "dorn," which means "fist." 1
The surname O'Durnint was first found in County Antrim (Irish: Aontroim) located in the province of Ulster in present day Northern Ireland. The name is also specific to "Ballydurnian in County Antrim, but Durnian is the more usual form in west Ulster." 2
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our O'Durnint research. Another 164 words (12 lines of text) covering the years 1596 and 1700 are included under the topic Early O'Durnint History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
The spelling of names in Ireland during the Middle Ages was rarely consistent. This inconsistency was due to the scribes and church officials' attempts to record orally defined names in writing. The common practice of recording names as they sounded resulted in spelling variations such as Durnan, Durnane, Durneen, Durnin, Durnain, Dornan, Dornain and many more.
More information is included under the topic Early O'Durnint Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Many destitute Irish families in the 18th and 19th centuries decided to leave their homeland, which had in many ways been scarred by English colonial rule. One of the most frequent destinations for these families was North America where it was possible for an Irish family to own their own parcel of land. Many of the early settlers did find land awaiting them in British North America, or even later in America, but for the majority of immigrants that arrived as a result of the Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s the ownership of land was often a long way off. These Irish people were initially put to work on such industrial projects as the building of bridges, canals, and railroads, or they worked at manufacturing positions within factories. Whenever they arrived, the Irish made enormous contributions to the infant nations of Canada and the United States. Some of the earliest immigrants to bearer the name of O'Durnint were found through extensive research of immigration and passenger lists: Nicholas Durnan who settled in Virginia in 1734; Charles Durnin settled in Newcastle in Co. Delaware in 1827; John Durnin arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1868.