O'Donoughue History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• Ireland

Etymology of O'Donoughue

The many Irish surnames in use today have long rich histories behind them. The name O'Donoughue originally appeared in Gaelic as Ó Donnchadha, which means son of Donnchadh or son of Donagh. 1

Early Origins of the O'Donoughue family

Early History of the O'Donoughue family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our O'Donoughue research. Another 76 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1172, 1640, 1811, 1812 and 1893 are included under the topic Early O'Donoughue History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

O'Donoughue Spelling Variations

Official documents, crafted by early scribes and church officials, primarily contained names that were spelled according to their pronunciation. This lead to the problem of one name being recorded under several different variations, creating an illusion that a single person was many people. Among the many spelling variations of the surname O'Donoughue that are preserved in the archival documents of the time are Donoghue, Donaghoe, Donaho, Donahoe, Donough, Donahue, Donahow, Doneghoe, Donehue, Donighue, Donohoe,Donahugh, Donohough, Donohow, Donohue, Donaughue, O'Donoghue, Dunphy, Donaghie, Donaghy and many more.

Early Notables of the O'Donoughue family

Another 28 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early O'Donoughue Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the O'Donoughue 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 O'Donoughue, or one of its variants: Bridget Donaghue who settled in Boston Massachusetts in 1850; along with Catherine, Charles, Dennis, Ellen, John, Mary, Michael, Patrick, Thomas, and many many more who settled in Philadelphia, and New York State..