Show ContentsDulitle History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The spelling and overall form of Irish names tend to vary widely over time. The original Gaelic form of the name Dulitle is Ó Dubhlachta. Dubh, the first portion of this name, means black, while the second portion is likely derived from some obsolete Irish forename. 1

Early Origins of the Dulitle family

The surname Dulitle was first found in County Clare (Irish: An Clár) located on the west coast of Ireland in the province of Munster, where they held a family seat from very ancient times.

In England, the first record of the family was found in Rutland, where Hugo Dolitel was listed in the Pipe Rolls of 1204. Later, Walter Dolitle was found in the Assize Rolls for Yorkshire in 1219 and John Do Littel was listed in the Subsidy Rolls for Worcestershire in 1275. 2

The fictional Eliza Doolittle appears in the play Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw in 1912. This famous play was adapted into the film My Fair Lady.

Early History of the Dulitle family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Dulitle research. Another 123 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1172, 1631, 1632, 1707 and 1719 are included under the topic Early Dulitle History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Dulitle Spelling Variations

Many variations of the name Dulitle were found in archives from the Middle Ages. The spelling and language in which the people's names were recorded was often up to the individual scribe. Variations of the name Dulitle found include Doolittle, Dolittle, Dulittle, Doelittle and others.

Early Notables of the Dulitle family

Another 33 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Dulitle Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Dulitle family

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 Dulitle, or one of its variants: John Doolittle of Lynn Massachusetts who settled there in 1643 and became Constable of Boston; Abraham Doolittle who settled in Wallingford and had many children, descendants settled in the town of Northfield Massachusetts and Belchertown New Britain, Connecticut, Winchester Conn. Torrington Conn..



  1. MacLysaght, Edward, The Surnames of Ireland. Ireland: Irish Academic Press, sixth edition, 1985. Print. (ISBN 0-7165-2366-3)
  2. Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)


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