Donnelly
An Irish surname from O’Donnelly, meaning “descendant of Donnghal/Donal-like one,” tied to an old Ulster sept.
The #1,114 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 9,800 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Donnelly is the Anglicized form of an Irish surname written O’Donnghaile or similar older Gaelic forms. The name is usually explained as a descendant form of a personal name built from donn, meaning “brown” or “dark,” plus a second element often taken as a proper-name suffix or an older personal-name stem. In older sources it appears as O’Donnelly, showing the original Gaelic prefix O’, “descendant of.”
History
Historical sources place the sept in Donegal and connect them with a chief ancestor named Giolla Mac Liag O’Donghaile, who is said to have died resisting John de Courcy’s invasion in 1177. The name later spread widely through Ireland and became common in English-language records as Donnelly. It is especially associated with Ulster, including place-name evidence such as Ballydonnelly in Tyrone.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century source specifically notes Ballydonnelly in Tyrone as named from this sept.
From the historical record
“in records as O'Dongan in 1387. D'AIton. DONNELLY. See O'Donnelly. DOR AN. An ancient Irish personal name. DOVEWARD.* See Ward. DO\YLING. See O'Dowling. DOYLE, I have deduced this name from the Norman Doyley, and as I think cor- rectly, but the Irish genealogists derive it”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom