Duffy
The name Duffy, or O'Duffy, is
widespread in Ireland: it is among the fifty most common surnames. It is found in Co. Monaghan and in North
Connacht. It is in Munster to some
extent but there it often takes the form Duhig, while in parts of Donegal it
has become Doohey and Dowey. These variants arose from local pronunciations of
the Irish O Dubhthaigh, a surname in which the root word is dubh (black).
There were several
distinct septs of O'Duffy. One belongs to the parish of Lower Templecrone in the
diocese of Raphoe, Co. Donegal, the patron saint of which is the seventh
century Dubhthach, or Duffy. His kinsmen the O'Duffys were erenaghs and coarbs
there for eight hundred years. The Connacht sept, the center of whose territory
was Lissonuffy or Lissyduffy near Stokestown, named after them, was remarkable
for the number of distinguished ecclesiastics it produced, particularly in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Among the many abbots and bishops whose names
are recorded in the Annals and in the Rental of Cong Abbey, compiled by Tadhg
O'Duffy in 1501, the most noteworthy were Cele (also called Cadhla and
Catholicus) O'Duffy, Archbishop of Tuam, who was King Roderick O'Connor's
ambassador to Henry II in 1175, and Muiredagh O'Duffy (1075-1150), also
Archbishop of Tuam. . They are traditionally believed to have originally been
located in East Leinster, of the same stock as the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles.
The same origin is
claimed for the O'Duffys of Monaghan. There, too, they were remarkable for
their contribution to the Church; but in this case not for medieval
dignitaries, but for the extraordinary number of parish clergy of the name. For
example, in the lists of priests compiled for Co. Monaghan in accordance with
the Penal Laws in the 18th century, Duffy
is by far the most numerous name.
In other spheres,
O'Duffys have also distinguished themselves.
In our family, Anthony Duffy was a member of "The White Boys of
Killala".In 1798, 6000 French troops landed on the western coast of
Ireland under General Humbert. Despite some initial victories, the invasion
eventually failed because reinforcements never arrived. The troops surrendered
to the English and were returned to France. Most of the Irishmen who
collaborated in this rebellion, however, were eventually rounded up and many
were executed.
In the 19th and 20th
centuries, other Duffys figure prominently. Among these are Edward Duffy
(1840-1868), the leading Fenian in Connacht, who died in an English prison;
Monaghan born James Duffy (1809-1871), the founder of the well-known Dublin
publishing firm; and three members of the Gavan Duffy family (which, by the
way, is not a hyphenated name) - Sir Charles Gavan Duffy (1816-1903), also of a
Co. Monaghan family, founder of the Young Ireland party and The Nation
newspaper, subsequently Prime Minister of Victoria, Australia; his son John
Gavan Duffy (1844-1917), also a member of the Victoria government, though born
in Dublin; and in the third generation a very prominent figure in modern Irish
politics, George Gavan Duffy (1882-1951), one of the signers of the Anglo-Irish
Treaty of 1922 and later President of the High Court of Justice of Ireland.
The variant Duhig occurs in
Munster. The Mayo surname O Doither,
formerly anglicized O'Diff, presents an example of the absorption of uncommon
names by common ones: the O'Diffs have now become generally Duffys and are
hardly distinguishable from the O'Duffys of the adjoining county of Roscommon.