Are you interested in the origins and meaning of an Irish last name that begins with B?
This article lists over one hundred Irish surnames that had birth registrations in early 20th century Ireland and also appear in the 2010 American census.
We’ll also give the origins and meanings of the most popular names.
Most Common Irish Surnames Starting With D
Let’s start with Irish names that had at least a thousand births in Ireland between 1923 and 1932.
We’ve also provided the number of bearers of the name in the 2010 U.S. census.
| Last Name | Irish Births 1923-32 | U.S. Census 2010 |
| Doyle | 4,930 | 74,458 |
| Daly | 3,349 | 31,330 |
| Dunne | 3,125 | 8,941 |
| Doherty | 2,816 | 27,787 |
| Duffy | 2,297 | 38,835 |
| Donovan | 1,539 | 40,410 |
| Delaney | 1,357 | 33,218 |
| Dolan | 1,127 | 27,329 |
| Dowling | 1,119 | 16,238 |
| Dwyer | 1,116 | 27,240 |
| Donnelly | 1,070 | 31,505 |
| Duggan | 1,061 | 12,237 |
Why take Irish birth registrations from 1923 to 1932?
The second column is the number of Irish birth registrations over ten years starting in 1923.
The reason I chose that start date was that the Republic of Ireland was established the previous year. Starting in 1923 excluded birth locations in Northern Ireland.
Otherwise, the number of English and Scottish names would take longer to filter out of this list.
Origins And Meanings Of Irish Surnames Starting With D
Let’s run through the origins and meanings of these top names.
Doyle
This is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Ó Dubhghaill. I explain “Anglicization” more fully in a later section.
Here, I’ll simply say that it’s a way of taking an old Gaelic surname and turning it into a name that sounds or seems English.
The “Ó” in Ó Dubhghaill means “descendant of”, so this name means the descendant of Dubhghall.
So, what does Dubhghall mean? This is a combination of two Irish words, “dubh” meaning black, and “ghall” meaning foreigner.
The name refers to a black-haired foreigner. The native Irish gave the name to dark-haired Danes, in contrast to the more fair-haired Norwegians.
Daly
This is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Ó Dálaigh, or descendant of Dálach.
The meaning comes from the Irish word for an assembly (dál). The modern parliament or meeting of all elected politicians in Ireland is called the Dáil.
Dunne or Dunn
Both of these variants are Anglicized forms of the Gaelic name Ó Doinn.
The meaning comes from the Irish word for brown (donn). The name was conferred on brown-haired men.
Anglicization can also be a straightforward translation instead of picking an English name that sounds like the old Irish name. So, some families went from Ó Doinn to Brown instead of Dunne.
Doherty
Doherty is the Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Ó Dochartaigh, or descendant of Dochartach.
The meaning comes from the Irish word for hard-hearted (docarthach).
Duffy
This is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Ó Dubhthaigh, or descendant of Dubhthach.
The meaning comes from the Irish word for black (dubh). Early bearers were likely dark-haired men.
We can date this name back to an Archbishop of Armagh in the sixth century.
Donovan
This is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Ó Donndubháin, or descendant of Donndubhán.
The meaning comes from Irish words for two colours. We’ve seen “donn” for brown before. The Irish word “dubh” means black. These words in names usually referred to hair colouring.
Delaney
The Irish name is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Ó Dubhshláine, or descendant of Dubhshláine.
Part of the meaning comes from the Irish words for black (dubh).
There are differing theories for the second part of the name. Rev Patrick Woulfe refers to the river Slaney (Sláine). Others point to the Irish word for a challenge (slán).
Dolan
This is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Ó Dubhláin, descendant of Dubhlán.
We’ve seen “dubh” before, referring to the colour black. The other part of the name may also refer to a challenge (slán).
This could make Dolan and Delaney as different Anglicizations of the same Gaelic family name.
Dowling
See the description for Dolan above.
Dwyer
This is an Anglicization of the Gaelic name Ó Dubhuidhir.
Once again, we see “dubh” referring to the colour black. The second part refers to a tawny colour (odhar).
Donnelly
This is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Ó Donnghaile, or descendant of Donnghall.
The meaning comes from the Irish words for the colour brown (donn) and a valorous man (ghall). So, we can consider it to be the brown-haired chieftain.
Dugan or Duggan
This is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Ó Dubhagáin, or descendant of Ó Dubhagán.
You’re probably getting familiar now with “dubh”, the Irish word for the colour black (or very dark).
The second part of the name can be the pet form or diminutive, referring to the younger or small dark-haired man.
It may also take its meaning from the Irish word “ceann”, which means a head or a chief. This would refer to the black-haired chieftain.
More About The Anglicization Of Irish Surnames
You’ll find it easier to understand how Irish families changed their names with a bit more background.
The use of surnames in Ireland dates back to the tenth century. Children adopted the first name of their father and prefixed it with “Mac” or “O”, which means “son” and “descendent of”.
These names were in the Gaelic language.
In later centuries when Ireland was under British rule, the use of the Gaelic language was curbed.
This led to the Irish making their names look and sound more English i.e. Anglicization.
The simplest way was to drop the O and Mac in front of a name.
Another way was to pick the nearest sounding English name. This is known as phonetic Anglicization.
The third way was to pick an English name that has the same meaning as the Gaelic name. The two names may sound completely different.
Other Irish Last Names From 1923 To 1932
We’ve covered the meanings and origins of the most common names in Ireland through the 1920s.
Here are the rest of the names in order of how many births occurred in Ireland between 1923 and 1932.
From 500 to 1000 births in Ireland from 1923-32
Donohoe and Donoghue are variants of the same name here.
| Last Name | Irish Births 1923-32 | U.S. Census 2010 |
| Dillon | 975 | 50,465 |
| Donohoe | 846 | 3,103 |
| Doran | 793 | 16,704 |
| Davis | 656 | 160,975 |
| Driscoll | 637 | 23,385 |
| Darcy | 630 | 4,876 |
| Dooley | 630 | 23,481 |
| Donoghue | 619 | 3,300 |
| Dowd | 553 | 13,590 |
From two hundred to three hundred births
| Last Name | Irish Births 1923-32 | U.S. Census 2010 |
| Downes | 365 | 5,956 |
| Deane | 338 | 6,454 |
| Dunphy | 329 | 3,666 |
| Deegan | 300 | 3,653 |
| Donegan | 290 | 4,372 |
| Donohue | 284 | 13,919 |
| Dineen | 274 | 3,083 |
| Duff | 230 | 16,536 |
| Deasy | 211 | 1,027 |
| Durkan | 210 | 317 |
| Dunleavy | 208 | 2,517 |
| Duignan | 202 | 584 |
From one hundred to two hundred births
| Last Name | Irish Births 1923-32 | U.S. Census 2010 |
| Donnellan | 198 | 1,582 |
| Doody | 186 | 2,876 |
| Doolan | 168 | 1,539 |
| Delahunty | 166 | 531 |
| Duncan | 161 | 135,187 |
| Dowdall | 155 | 554 |
| Dignam | 140 | 352 |
| Danaher | 138 | 1,786 |
| Dee | 137 | 6,275 |
| Doogan | 135 | 356 |
| Diver | 134 | 1,382 |
| Dinneen | 131 | 950 |
| Durkin | 131 | 7,975 |
| Dore | 126 | 5,075 |
| Doheny | 110 | 990 |
| Donlon | 106 | 2,600 |
| Drohan | 103 | 777 |
From sixty to one hundred births
| Last Name | Irish Births 1923-32 | U.S. Census 2010 |
| Doolin | 98 | 2,812 |
| Darby | 95 | 18,757 |
| Drennan | 94 | 4,233 |
| Dunlea | 92 | 325 |
| Daniel | 91 | 80,526 |
| Davitt | 89 | 959 |
| Drury | 89 | 10,721 |
| Dorgan | 86 | 1,688 |
| Dyer | 86 | 47,170 |
| Donaghey | 85 | 627 |
| Day | 84 | 105,091 |
| Deery | 72 | 1,006 |
| Dooner | 72 | 461 |
| Doohan | 67 | 230 |
| Daniels | 66 | 146,570 |
| Dargan | 66 | 1,884 |
| Dinan | 64 | 1,642 |
| Donelan | 64 | 741 |
| Drew | 64 | 23,722 |
| Dunn | 63 | 141,427 |
| Dorrian | 61 | 393 |
| Duane | 60 | 1,698 |
From fifty to sixty births
| Last Name | Irish Births 1923-32 | U.S. Census 2010 |
| Davern | 59 | 715 |
| Diamond | 59 | 21,586 |
| Deady | 58 | 1,015 |
| Duffin | 56 | 2,738 |
| Dardis | 55 | 641 |
| Drum | 55 | 4,468 |
| Donlan | 53 | 1,119 |
| Dorney | 52 | 1,022 |
| Deignan | 51 | 784 |
| Donaghy | 51 | 1,863 |
| Davy | 50 | 3,316 |
| Deely | 50 | 449 |
From thirty to fifty births
| Last Name | Irish Births 1923-32 | U.S. Census 2010 |
| Deeney | 49 | 447 |
| Doonan | 48 | 1,039 |
| Diffley | 47 | 554 |
| Dower | 46 | 1,127 |
| Dullaghan | 46 | 170 |
| Durnin | 46 | 642 |
| Diskin | 45 | 1,066 |
| Delahunt | 44 | 730 |
| Duffey | 44 | 6,251 |
| Darmody | 43 | 299 |
| Drumm | 42 | 3,908 |
| Davin | 39 | 1,723 |
| Dignan | 39 | 1,036 |
| Deehan | 37 | 336 |
| Deere | 37 | 1,930 |
| Dudley | 36 | 35,781 |
| Dunworth | 36 | 519 |
| Doorley | 34 | 288 |
| Donnellon | 33 | 244 |
| Dowley | 33 | 219 |
| Drea | 33 | 279 |
| Dukelow | 33 | 237 |
| Dullea | 33 | 470 |
| Dooney | 32 | 268 |
| Diviney | 30 | 516 |
At least ten births
| Last Name | Irish Births 1923-32 | U.S. Census 2010 |
| Deighan | 28 | 387 |
| Dugan | 28 | 21,455 |
| Davoren | 26 | 372 |
| Dockery | 26 | 11,644 |
| Dwan | 25 | 407 |
| Dougan | 24 | 3,502 |
| Deacy | 23 | 275 |
| Durney | 20 | 604 |
| Dornan | 19 | 949 |
| Duddy | 19 | 1,037 |
| Dungan | 19 | 3,819 |
| Dynan | 18 | 239 |
| Drumgoole | 17 | 584 |
| Drinan | 16 | 290 |
| Deeley | 15 | 544 |
| Degnan | 15 | 2,549 |
| Dinsmore | 15 | 5,008 |
| Dolly | 14 | 1,575 |
| Darcey | 13 | 497 |
| Dooher | 13 | 198 |
| Drudy | 13 | 159 |
| Dowds | 11 | 412 |
| Drummey | 10 | 322 |
| Durning | 10 | 899 |
