Where does the surname Donoghoe come from?

[Dave D]

This is my surname and I am in Australia. Variations of the name such as Donoghue, Donahue are obviously Irish (I think), I'm just wondering if I could find our whether "Donoghoe" originated in Ireland or whether it was changed once in Australia. I have no information on my ancestors and there is an extremely limited number of searches for "Donoghoe." A facebook search reveals limited numbers and most seem to be from Australia. Can anyone suggest a method for me to search of Donoghoe elsewhere?

[Maxi]

Yes it is a spelling variation.....Donohoe, O’Donoghue, ó Donnchadha, ó Donnchú A Gaelic surname meaning descendent of Donnchadh meaning ‘brown warrior, strong warrior’. A sept who derive their name and descent from Donnchadh, son of Ceallachan, King of Cashel, they were seated at Magh Feimhin now the barony of Iffa and Offa in Tipperary. A sept of Desmond, a branch of the Uí Eathach Mumhan and of the same stock as the O’Mahonys. Their original territory was in west Cork, but around the begining of the thirteenth century they were driven out by the MacCarthys and O’Mahonys and settled in Kerry. They became lords of the country about Killarney, which was named Eoghanacht Ui Dhonnchadha. In 1890 Donohoe was numerous in Cavan, and principally found in Dublin, Longford, and Galway. The estimated number of bearers was 7,257 (including variants). In 1890 O’Donoghue was principally found in Kerry and Cork, and the estimated number of bearers was 1,750. In the United States Donahue is the 3,024th most numerous surname with an estimated 11,000 bearers, Donohoe is the 8.946th most numerous surname with an estimated 2,750 bearers.

This website may help you...start with you and do all your groundwork first, then look on the links page as the site is UK/Irish based and has many links that could help http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ance...surnames/)

[Tina]

What you will need to do to learn if your Donoghoe surname originated in Ireland or was changed in Australia is find the first immigrant ancestor to Australia of your line. The way to do this is to begin with yourself and work back one generation at a time documenting one generation to the next with birth, death and marriage certificates. And any other record that will provide clues as to the names of your records such a obituaries, wills, funeral cards, bible records, tax records, letters and anything else that might be in your home or the home of your relatives.

Some useful links that will help you with records outside the home and with how your ancestor would have traveled to Australia are:

http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/find/guides/fa...nger_lists
http://naa.gov.au/collection/a-z/family-history.aspx
http://www.hotkey.net.au/~jwilliams4/migrate.htm

Also, don’t forget to consider that some Americans immigrated to Australia after the California gold rush…some of those could have been Irish.