Historical Origins of the O'Donoghues

Irish history and mythology is some of the best recorded in the world. Because of the work of the Irish annalists and genealogists we are able to identify where our ancient forebears may have come from. Also we are told what their tribal names are and the names of the septs that developed from those tribes. MacLysaght describes a sept as 'a collective term describing a group of persons, who, or whose immediate and known ancestors, bore a common surname and inhabited the same locality'. This is not the same as a Scottish clan, which were differently constituted, although the word 'clan' does tend to be used synonymously with an Irish sept.

Here is a brief description of the currently recognized macro tribal history in Ireland. The annals tell us that the Fir Bolg arrived in the country before the Milesians. The former, together with their contemporaries the Fir Domnann, the Laigin and the Ulaidh, are ethnologically classed as the Érainn. Tribes of this origin are prefixed generally with names like Corcu (perhaps meaning seed of) or ending in 'aighe' such as the Ciarraighe (black people) or Osraighe (deer people). The tribes of the second migration, the Milesian (the Gaels or Goidels), carry names like Eóghanachta (descendants of Eoghan) or Connachta (descendants of Conn).

In these pages the Irish spellings are used. Ó means basically 'from' but in genealogical terms means 'grandson or descendant of'. Uí is the genitive singular and so Donnchadh Uí Láegairi means Donogh of the O'Leary tribe/sept or descendants of Leary. Ua is the genitive plural and therefore Ua Donnchadha means in its simplest 'of the Donoghues'. Sometimes one sees this as Hua Donnchadha. One finds a great variety of spellings in the old Irish records, and I have stuck with those in my book 'O'Donoghue People and Places'.

We know of a number of Ó Donnchadha tribes, and details for each of them are given via the links listed below. The further historical research which the society is undertaking will result in new information, and combined with the Y-DNA project, will lead potentially to a much greater understanding of the ancient roots of our name.

In two cases local societies or associations are in place to bring together people from the same tribal group or location and for these a direct link has been put on the home page

If you wish quickly to assign yourself to any of these territorial groups please select from this drop down list and you will be registered under your chosen heading.