Origin of the Name Duffy
The origin of the name
Duffy was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives.
Over the centuries Surnames developed a wide number of variants. Different spellings of the same name can be traced back to an original root. Additionally when a bearer of a name emigrated it was not uncommon that their original name would be incorrectly transcribed in the record books at their new location. Surnames were also often altered over the years based on how they sounded phonetically and depending on the prevailing political conditions it may have been advantageous to change a name from one language to another.
Variants of the name Duffy
include Duffey, Duhig and Dowey. Meaning 'dark complexioned one', there were several septs of O'Duffy.
A sept or clan is a collective term describing a group of persons whose immediate ancestors bore a common surname and inhabited the same territory. Irish septs and clans that are related often belong to even larger groups, sometimes called tribes.
One sept belonged to the Parish of Lower Templcrone, in the diocese of Raphoe in County Donegal. The Duffys were erenaghs and coards there for eight hundred years. The Connacht sept near Strokestown, whose territory was Lissyduffy which was named after them, was remarkable for the number of ecclesiastics it produced. This name is one of the most popular in Ireland . Cele Duffy, Archbishop of Tuam, was King Roderick O'Connors Ambassador to Henry II in 1175. This family was occupied with ecclesiastical art and was responsible for creating the famous 'Cross of Cong'.
The Duffy coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all Duffy descendants.