Who we are

The O’Dubhda — anglicised as O’Dowd, Dowd, Doody, Duddy, Doud and a dozen more forms — are one of the oldest surnamed families in Europe. The name was in hereditary use in the ninth century, a generation before most English families had surnames at all.

The clan’s heartland is Tíreragh and Tírawley — what is now north Mayo and west Sligo — where the O’Dubhda kings of the Uí Fiachrach ruled from the coast at Ballina out to the Killala peninsula. Their castles, abbeys, and inauguration mounds are scattered across the landscape still, and many are gathered on the Homelands pages for anyone who wants to walk them.

A living clan

Clan Uí Dhubhda is not a dormant one. Since 2000, the family has gathered every three years for a Rally — an informal hosting at which a new Taoiseach (chief) and Tánaiste (heir) are inaugurated under the ancient Brehon rite, on the very ground where their ancestors were made chiefs. In between rallies, a working Clan Council keeps the flame lit: researching the family’s history, preserving its places, publishing its stories, and welcoming new members from every spelling-variant and every country.

This website is where all of that lives. It is a volunteer project, built and maintained by clan members around the world, and continually updated with new research, new field visits, and new voices.