Show ContentsLuby History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Luby comes from the original Irish Ó Lubaigh.

Early Origins of the Luby family

The surname Luby was first found in County Tipperary (Irish: Thiobraid Árann), established in the 13th century in South-central Ireland, in the province of Munster, where in 1659, they were recorded in Petty's census as a principal name in the barony of Iffa and Offa. There is a place in the nearby parish of Galbally named Ballylooby, after the family.

Early History of the Luby family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Luby research. Another 60 words (4 lines of text) covering the years 1665, 1800, 1822, 1870 and 1901 are included under the topic Early Luby History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Luby Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Luby, Looby, Lube, O'Luby and others.

Early Notables of the Luby family

Notable among the family name at this time was

  • Thomas Clarke Luby (1822-1901), a Young Irelander, Fenian, and revolutionary journalist...
  • His relative Catherine Luby was a poetess, and his uncle Rev...
  • Thomas Luby (1800-1870), was a mathematician...

Luby Ranking

In the United States, the name Luby is the 13,725th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1


United States Luby migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Luby Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • John Luby, who settled in Maryland in 1678
Luby Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • Richard Luby, who immigrated to Boston in 1765
  • Richard Luby, who landed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1765 2
Luby Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • John and Mary Luby, who immigrated to New York in 1849
  • Edward, Martin, Patrick, Sara, and John Luby, who, who arrived in New Orleans in 1849
  • Ellen Luby, who landed in New York in 1851
  • T. A. Luby, who sailed to San Francisco in 1851
  • T A Luby, who arrived in San Francisco, California in 1851 2

Canada Luby migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Luby Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century
  • Mr. John Luby, aged 29 who immigrated to Canada, arriving at the Grosse Isle Quarantine Station in Quebec aboard the ship "Achilles" departing from the port of Liverpool, England but died on Grosse Isle in June 1847 3
  • John Luby, who landed in Quebec in 1849

Australia Luby migration to Australia +

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

Luby Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century
  • Mr. James Luby, English convict who was convicted in Middlesex, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Baring" in April 1815, arriving in New South Wales, Australia 4

Contemporary Notables of the name Luby (post 1700) +

  • Solomon Roy Luby (1904-1976), American animator, editor, and film director who used many pseudonyms, associate producer of the Out of the Inkwell cartoons for Max Fleischer and Mutt and Jeff cartoons for Bud Fisher
  • John Perkins "Pat" Luby (1869-1899), American Major League Baseball pitcher who played from 1890 to 1895 for the Louisville Colonels and Chicago Colts
  • Michael George Luby, American mathematician and computer scientist, VP Technology at Qualcomm and former co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Digital Fountain, awarded the 2002 IEEE Information Theory Society Information Theory Paper Award, the 2007 IEEE Eric E. Sumner Award, Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery in 2015
  • Bob Luby, American founder of the Luby's cafeteria-style restaurant chain located in the southern and southwestern United States, now a public company with annual sales of over $400 million
  • Thomas Clarke Luby (1822-1901), Irish revolutionary, author, journalist, one of the founding members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood
  • Kurt Luby (b. 1963), British former auto racing driver, winner of the 1998 British GT
  • Kia Luby (b. 1989), Australian actress, known for her work on The Saddle Club (2001-2009)
  • Gloria Lindsay Luby, Canadian politician, city councillor and former Deputy Speaker of Toronto City Council in Toronto (2000-2014)


The Luby Motto +

The motto was originally a war cry or slogan. Mottoes first began to be shown with arms in the 14th and 15th centuries, but were not in general use until the 17th century. Thus the oldest coats of arms generally do not include a motto. Mottoes seldom form part of the grant of arms: Under most heraldic authorities, a motto is an optional component of the coat of arms, and can be added to or changed at will; many families have chosen not to display a motto.

Motto: Virtus propter se
Motto Translation: Virtue for its own sake.


  1. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  2. 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)
  3. Charbonneau, André, and Doris Drolet-Dubé. A Register of Deceased Persons at Sea and on Grosse Île in 1847. The Minister of Canadian Heritage, 1997. ISBN: 0-660-198/1-1997E (p. 40)
  4. Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 16th September 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/baring


Houseofnames.com on Facebook