Quick answer: Doherty and O’Doherty are English forms of the Irish surname Ó Dochartaigh, a Gaelic family long connected with Inishowen in County Donegal. Patrick Woulfe records O’Doherty, Dougherty and Doherty among the anglicized forms of Ó Dochartaigh.
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What does Doherty mean?
Ó Dochartaigh means “descendant of Dochartach.” Woulfe glossed the personal name Dochartach as “hurtful” or “disobliging.” His surname dictionary also records forms including O’Dogherty, O’Dougherty, O’Doherty, Dougherty and Doherty, showing why spelling can vary across older records.
Where is the Ó Dochartaigh family associated in Ireland?
Woulfe places the historic Ó Dochartaigh family within Cenél Conaill, of the same stock as the O’Donnells, and records that they were first chiefs of Cenél Énna and Ardmire in the barony of Raphoe before becoming lords of Inishowen around the beginning of the fifteenth century. The Dictionary of Irish Biography likewise describes Inishowen as one of the largest sub-lordships of Tír Conaill and identifies Cahir O’Doherty as lord of Inishowen at the beginning of the seventeenth century.
What happened in Cahir O’Doherty’s 1608 rising?
Cahir O’Doherty (1587–1608) had previously cooperated with the English administration and received a patent for Inishowen. Relations deteriorated after 1607, and in April 1608 he and his followers seized Culmore Fort and attacked Derry. The rising was defeated, and O’Doherty was killed near Kilmacrennan in July 1608.
The rising had major consequences for Inishowen and northern Tír Conaill, including confiscation and dispossession, and Woulfe records that the O’Doherty lands were granted to Sir Arthur Chichester. The Flight of the Earls in 1607 had already transformed the political situation in Ulster and plantation planning was under way. The O’Doherty rising widened the lands available for confiscation, and the Plantation of Ulster followed in 1610.
Where do Munster Doherty families come from?
Doherty, O’Doherty and Dougherty are all English forms of Ó Dochartaigh, the Donegal name. In Munster a second surname joins the story: Woulfe records Ó Dubhartaigh, a Corca Laoighdhe family of south-west Cork that spread through Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary and often appears in records as Doherty. For a Munster line, place, parish and family relationships show which of the two names a family carries.
How to research a Doherty or O’Doherty family
Start with the most recent proven generation and work backward. Record every spelling as it appears, then identify a county, parish or townland that links the family to Inishowen, wider Donegal or Munster. For Irish research, the National Archives of Ireland provides the 1901 and 1911 censuses and the 1926 census, while IrishGenealogy.ie provides free civil and church-record searching. Emigration records in the United States, Canada, Britain or Australia can then be used to bridge the family back to Ireland.