Show ContentsDonavon History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Many of the Irish surnames in use today have long rich histories behind them. The name Donavon originally appeared in Gaelic as O Donnabhain, derived from the words "donn," which means "brown," and "dubhan," a derivative of "dubh," which means "black."

Early Origins of the Donavon family

The surname Donavon was first found in County Limerick (Irish: Luimneach) located in Southwestern Ireland, in the province of Munster, where they held a family seat from very ancient times at Bruree. Their hereditary territory were the lands along the banks of the river Maigues in that county. They were descended from Crom, the Chief of the Donovans, who built Crom Castle, and he in turn was descended anciently from Eoghan Mor (Eugene the Great), King of Munster. Amhailgadh II's son, Crom's great, great grandfather, was a commander with King Brian Boru in the Battle of Clontarf against the Danes, and it was at this time through marriage that they lost the throne of Munster.

Early History of the Donavon family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Donavon research. Another 55 words (4 lines of text) covering the years 1172, 1584, 1639, 1641, 1684, 1689 and 1705 are included under the topic Early Donavon History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Donavon Spelling Variations

Within archives, many different spelling variations exist for the surname Donavon. Ancient scribes and church officials recorded names as they were pronounced, often resulting in the name of the single person being recorded under several different spellings. Different spellings that were found include Donovan, Donavon, Donavan, Donevan, Donnovan, Donnavon, Donnavan, Donnovin and many more.

Early Notables of the Donavon family

Notable amongst the family name at this time was Donal II O'Donovan (Irish: Domhnall Ó Donnabháin), The O'Donovan of Clann Cathail, Lord of Clancahill (died 1639); Donal III O'Donovan (Irish: Domhnall Ó Donnabháin), The O'Donovan of Clancahill, (born before 1584), he joined the so-called Irish Rebellion of 1641 under Donagh MacCarthy and was accordingly stripped of his estates by...
Another 58 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Donavon Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.


United States Donavon migration to the United States +

In the 18th and 19th centuries hundreds of thousands of Irish people immigrated to North American shores. The early settlers were enticed by the promise of their own land, but they were moderately well off in Ireland when they decided to emigrate. Therefore, they were merely carrying out a long and carefully thought out decision. The 1840s saw the emergence of a very different trend: thousands of extremely desperate people crammed into passenger boats hoping to find any type of opportunity. The Irish of this decade had seen their homeland severely stricken by crop failures which resulted in widespread disease and starvation. At whatever time the Irish immigrants came to North America, they were instrumental in the rapid development of the emerging nations of the United States and what would become known as Canada. An exhaustive search of passenger and immigration lists has revealed many persons bearing the name Donavon, or one of its variants:

Donavon Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Patrick Donavon, who arrived in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1854 [1]

Australia Donavon migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Donavon Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century
  • Mr. Michael Donavon, (b. 1809), aged 18, Irish farmers man who was convicted in Cork, Ireland for 7 years for stealing, transported aboard the "Eliza" on 19th July 1827, arriving in New South Wales, Australia [2]
  • Dennis John Donavon, aged 34, a labourer, who arrived in South Australia in 1854 aboard the ship "Pestonjee Bomanjee" [3]


  1. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
  2. Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 16th February 2022). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/eliza
  3. South Australian Register Wednesday 15th March 1854. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) Pestonjee Bomanjee 1854. Retrieved http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/australia/hyderabad1854.shtml


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