The most frequent family names with roots in County Donegal — names that spread through Ireland and the Irish diaspora:
County Donegal is Ireland's most northerly county — and by a quirk of partition, it's cut off from the rest of the Republic by the counties of Northern Ireland. To drive from Donegal to Dublin, you pass through Fermanagh and Monaghan. This isolation is part of Donegal's identity: a county that looks west to the Atlantic, maintains its own strong Irish-language tradition, and has historically connected more closely to Scotland (just thirteen miles across the North Channel) than to Leinster.
The Gallagher clan (Ó Gallchobhair) dominated Donegal's northern territories for centuries. The O'Donnell clan, one of the most powerful in Ulster, ruled from Donegal Castle. The McLaughlins, the Dohertys, the Sweeneys — these names define Donegal's history.
Donegal's connection to Scotland created the Irish-Scottish diaspora of America: the Scots-Irish or Scotch-Irish who settled Appalachia in the eighteenth century came largely from Ulster, and Donegal families were part of that great westward movement. Later, the Famine and post-Famine emigration sent Donegal families to Boston, Philadelphia, and Glasgow.
Donegal has the highest rate of emigration of any Irish county relative to its population. The phrase 'Donegal people go everywhere' is common in the county. In Boston and Philadelphia, Donegal societies maintained county identity for generations. The Scotch-Irish of Appalachia — whose descendants include Presidents Andrew Jackson and James Polk — had strong Donegal roots.
Love Ireland has covered Donegal's extraordinary landscape — the wild Inishowen Peninsula, the Glenveagh National Park, the Slieve League cliffs (higher than the Cliffs of Moher, less visited). The county's Gaeltacht areas maintain a living Irish culture. If Donegal is your family's county, the newsletter brings it closer.
Subscribe to Love Ireland — FreeIf your family came from County Donegal, here's where to start your research:
Many of the most common County Donegal surnames have their own dedicated pages on this site: