History reveals the roots of the Haffey family name in the ancient Strathclyde people of the Scottish/English Borderlands. The Haffey name is derived from the Gaelic personal name Debshithe, which means the black man of peace.
The surname Haffey was first found in Wigtown (Gaelic: Siorrachd Bhaile na h-Uige), formerly a county in southwestern Scotland, now part of the Council Area of Dumfries and Galloway, where they held a family seat from very early times. This distinguished Clan was originally known as the Clan MacKilhaffy and held a family seat at Craig Caffe in the parish of Inch.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Haffey research. Another 148 words (11 lines of text) covering the years 1320 and 1540 are included under the topic Early Haffey History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Prior to the first dictionaries, scribes spelled words according to sound. This, and the fact that Scottish names were repeatedly translated from Gaelic to English and back, contributed to the enormous number of spelling variations in Scottish names. Haffey has been spelled Mahaffy, Mehaffy, MacHaffie, Mahaffie, McHaffie, MacHaffy, McHaffy, MacGilhaffie, McGilhaffie, MacGilhaffy, McGilhaffy, MacKilhaffy, McKilhaffy, MacKilhaffie, McKilhaffie, MacIlhaffie, McIlhaffie, MacIlhaffy, McIlhaffy, MacCaffee, McCaffee, MacCaffie, McCaffie, McCaffy, MacCaffy, Milhaffie, Milhaffy, Mahalfie, Mahalfy and many more.
More information is included under the topic Early Haffey Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
In the United States, the name Haffey is the 14,050th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. [1]
Some of the Haffey family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. More information about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
In such difficult times, the difficulties of raising the money to cross the Atlantic to North America did not seem so large compared to the problems of keeping a family together in Scotland. It was a journey well worth the cost, since it was rewarded with land and freedom the Scots could not find at home. The American War of Independence solidified that freedom, and many of those settlers went on to play important parts in the forging of a great nation. Among them:
Some of the first settlers of this family name were: