elahunty amily istory

Some Known Variations on the Delahunty/ӠDulchaointigh Name:
Delahunty / Dellahunty / Delahunt / Delahunte / Delhunty / Delehunty / Delehanty / Delehant / Delahanty / Delahantey / Delahan / Delahaunte / Delahenty / Delhenty / Delahuntly / Dolohunty / Dolohanty / Dolehanty / Doolaghty / Doloughty / Dillahunty / Dilihunte / Dillihunt / Delanty / Delantey / Delenty / Dulanty / Dulihanty / Dulhunty / Dulenty / Hunt (although this is more often not a form of the name!) / De La Hunt.
Old English forms of the name include:
O'Dolleghenty / O'Dulleghyntie / Dultaliunty / Dullchanty.
These are not exhaustive lists, but do show how much of a variation can arise.
Most of the names above are not to be found in Ireland, and have arisen as a result of confusion on the part of immigration clerks around the world. I carried out an online search of the Irish phone directory (www.eircom.ie) in January 2003. I've found 153 Delahuntys, 54 Delahunts & 6 Delantys but none of the other variations listed above....including ӠDulchaointigh. I did find 2 Dechants and 1 Dolaty in Dublin, although I don't know if these are related to us.
The Delahuntys are broken down as follows: Kilkenny 34, Tipperary 33, Dublin 21, Waterford 11, Laois 14, Cork & Kildare 7 each, Limerick & Wexford 5 each, Wicklow 4, Clare, Carlow & Donegal 2 each, Mayo, Sligo, Galway and Kerry 1 each.
Surprisingly, there were none to be found in Offaly. I did however, find some Delahunts there. The Delahunts are broken down as follows: Wicklow 17, Dublin 10, Kildare 8, Offaly 6, Tipperary 5, Meath 2, Louth, Clare and Cork 1 each. Surprisingly, there were none to be found in Kilkenny!
Of the Delantys, 1 was to be found in Dublin and 5 in Cork.

Most of you will have been told at some stage that the Delahunty name is French. Larry Jones (author of Dulanty Ancestry, 1976) has written an interesting piece on this debate. You can read it here.

There are few countries in Europe which have endured such a turbulent history as Ireland during the past thousand years. As a consequence of the many upheavels the Irish people have been scattered throughout the world finding new homes in places as far apart as America and Australia. Today, for the 70 million people worldwide with Irish ancestry, the name of that first family member who ventured away from home has been forgotten. All that remains to remind them of their ancestors is a surname, which sometimes may not even appear to be Irish. This surname, however, is still an important link from which to obtain a vast amount of information regarding the origin and history of our forefathers. In the 10th century Ireland was the first country in Western Europe to adopt a system of hereditary surnames. Prior to this people were identified by a christian name to which was added a term descriptive of some personal attribute or feat accomplished by the individual. It was also the custom for the general area in which a tribe ruled for people to be named after the founder of the tribe. An example of this is the term Cin顬 Conaill which would have refered to a group descended from Conall, who occupied an area of north donegal. From this common ancestor sprang names such as O'Donnell and O'Doherty. These latter surnames were formed by prefixing 'O' meaning 'of' or 'Mac' meaning 'son' to the name of the father or grandfather or a more distant relative. Thus the O'Neills took their surname from Niall Glundubh, the O'Briens from Brian Boru and the McCarthys from Carthach. In 1465 an Act of Parliament compelled people living within the Pale, the area around Dublin, to take English surnames. In this way MacGowan became Smith, MacShane became Johnson and MacFirbis became Forbes. It is only since the beginning of this century that the practise of prefixing names with Mac and O has been re-established.

(O)DELAHUNTY, Dulanty, Delehunty. Ir. ӠDulchaointigh - plaintive, satirist.
A true Gaelic-Irish surname, which has also been anglicized Delahunt and Dulanty, is ӠDulchaointigh in Irish. O'Dolleghenty, O'Dulleghyntie are old forms in English as well as other similar variants, under which people of the name appear often in the Ormond Deeds from 1441 onwards, as well as in the Tudor Fiants and other mediaeval and early modern Irish records. In the "census" of 1659 the spellings are Dultaliunty and Dullchanty, the first was one of the principal names in the barony of Crannagil, Co. Kilkenny, and the second in the barony of Ballybritt, Co. Offaly. In the 1670s there were 27 families of the name included in the Hearth Money Rolls of County Tipperary, and twenty years later three officers of the name are found in a regiment of James II's Irish army. The sept was always closely associated with that part of the country and was of the same stock as the famous O'Carrolls of Ely O'Carroll. A branch migrated to Co. Kerry in the sixteenth century but is seldom found there today, the Ely O'Carroll country is still their principal habitat. Best known of them in Ireland is probably John Whelan Dulanty, (d. 1955) who was 18 years Irish High Commissioner (later ambassador) in London. In America, as Delahanty, it recalls great feats in the game of baseball (Ed Delahanty). Delahunty has taken the form Dulhunty in Australia. Source: Edward MacLysaght, More Irish Families, Dublin, 1996, pages 78-79.

Those of you who might be interested in learning more about "Big Ed" Delahanty should note that a new book entitled "Ed Delahanty and the Emerald Age of Baseball" (Notre Dame University Press, 2004) has just been published.

The Delahunty name has also featured within the GAA. The first meeting of the association was held on the 1st of November 1884 in Hayes' Hotel, Thurles. Amongst those present was a William Delehunty from Thurles. Other names are Joe Delahunty, who played for Kilkenny in the 1909 and 1913 All-Ireland hurling finals. On both occasions the Cats beat Tipp. John Delahunty was a sub for Tipp when they defeated Kilkenny in the 1945 hurling final, and Pat Delahunty was a sub for Kilkenny in the 1966 All-Ireland final, when they were beaten by Cork.

Clan Cian, of which the Delahuntys are a part, are a coming together of the many scattered septs and families of those who descend from: 1) Olioll Olum, of the Royal House of Heber, King of Munster, and 2) his wife Sadhbh, daughter of Conn of the Hundred Battles of the Royal House of Heremon, High King of all Ireland. The marriage of Olioll Olum and Sadhbh produced three brothers from whom the nobility of Munster are descended. They were: Owen M󲠉I, Cormac Cas, and Cian -whose descendants included the O' Carrolls and were known as the Cianachta (i.e. the family and descendants of Cian) & Elyans and ruled the Kingdom of Eile O' Carroll, Upper or North Ossary, fomerly called North Eile & Ancient Oremond. Within Clan Cian there are three main branches: 1) The Elyan Branch which is composed of those families descended from Cian and includes the families who lived within the boundaries of the ancient Kingdom of Eile O' Carroll, Upper Ossary, Oremond. Other Cianachta Branches were located in the districts: Kinelargy, Coolavin, Sliabh Lugha, Leyney, Brebilly, Cianacht (or Keenaght), and the ancient Kingdom of Oriel who were once ruled by a branch of the O' Carrolls; 2) The Dalcassian Branch which is composed of those families who descended from Cormac Cas and includes the families who lived in the ancient Kingdom of Thomond, and; 3) The Eugenian Branch which is composed of those families descended from Eoghan M󲠉I and includes the families who lived within the territories of the Kingdom of Eile O' Carroll. The Delahuntys are listed among the Cianachta because they are descended from Laughaidh (or Luy, Ancestor of Muintir-Cormac, of Muintir Dulchonta, anglicized Delahunty, Delahunt, Hunt and De-la-Hunt) who was the son of Cormac Galeng (Cormac Galeng is found on the O'Hara of Leyney, County Sligo Pedigree), nephew of Conla, grandson of Teige (King of Eile 210 AD), and great-grandson of Cian (Prince of Ormond, Son of Olioll Olum, King of Munster), who are nos. 87, 86 & 85 respectively in the Eile O' Carroll pedigree. More can be found by looking up the O' Hara & O' Carroll listings in "Irish Pedigrees Vol. 1" by O' Hart.

For more on the pedigree of Oilioll Olum click here.

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