Archives: Notable People

THE CLAN ABROAD

Notable Ó Dubhdas

Dowd · Doody · Duddy · O’Dowda · and more
“Wherever the name has carried, these are the cousins making their mark — an old Tireragh family across the wider world.”

A LIVING DIRECTORY

The Ó Dubhda surname has scattered across centuries and oceans, surfacing now as Dowd, O’Dowd, O’Dowda, Doody, Duddy, Dowdy, and more. The directory below gathers cousins who carry one of those spellings and have left a verifiable public record — a Wikipedia article, a Wikidata entity, or an editorial seat in the clan itself.

No subjective judgements: the rankings are computed from public signals (Wikipedia readership, Wikidata sitelinks, social-media reach for living people) and refreshed weekly. The internet decides who is notable; we just gather them under the family name they share.

THE FULL DIRECTORY

Browse by Category

Switch between categories using the tabs; toggle Living and Historical within each. Each card opens to the cousin’s full profile.

Historical (52)
Long-passed forebears, ranked by signal.
#1

Leo Joseph Dowd

Founder of Dowd Oil, Dowd Grain, Dowd & Stolz Transfer, Dowd & Schutt Gravel, Dowd Industries, and O'Neill Farms; long-serving president of the Omaha Archdiocesan Educational Foundation

CEOs & Entrepreneurs · Historical
#2

Dan O’Dowd

Uilleann piper and pipe-maker; co-founder of Na Píobairí Uilleann (1968); top exponent of the fonn mall (slow air).

Musicians · Historical
#3

Brendan O’Dowda

Irish tenor; foremost interpreter and biographer of Percy French

Musicians · Historical
#4

Tom Dowd

Pioneer recording engineer at Atlantic Records

Musicians · Scientists & Innovators · Historical
#5

Michael Dowd

Michael Dowd (19 November 1958 – 7 October 2023) was an American author, ordained minister (United Church of Christ and Universal Life Church) and lecturer who became known as America's "evolutionary evangelist" for his project of integrati

Activists & Advocacy · Writers & Journalists · Historical
#6

Siobhan Dowd

Siobhan Dowd (4 February 1960 – 21 August 2007) was a British-Irish children's-fiction writer and human-rights activist whose four young-adult novels — three published in her lifetime, one posthumously — won her substantial international re

Activists & Advocacy · Writers & Journalists · Historical
#7

Bernard O’Dowd

Bernard Patrick O'Dowd (11 April 1866 – 1 September 1953) was an Australian poet, lawyer, journalist and socialist activist whose career bridged the late-Victorian colonial Victorian and the Federation-era Australian Labor traditions.

Activists & Advocacy · Writers & Journalists · Historical
#8

Brendan Duddy

Brendan Duddy (10 June 1936 – 12 May 2017) was a Derry businessman who, for two decades, served as the secret back-channel between the British government and the leadership of the Provisional IRA — known to MI6 only as "the Contact" — and w

Activists & Advocacy · CEOs & Entrepreneurs · Historical
#9

Charles F. Dowd

Proposed the four-time-zone railway system (1869); time-zones pioneer

Academics · Scientists & Innovators · Historical
#10

David Dudley Dowd Jr.

David Dudley Dowd Jr.

Politicians & Public Servants · Historical
#11

Douglas Fitzgerald Dowd

Douglas Fitzgerald Dowd (7 December 1919 – 8 September 2017) was an American Marxist political economist, economic historian and lifelong civil rights and anti-war activist who taught economics at Cornell University, the University of Calif

Academics · Activists & Advocacy · Historical
#12

Harry Dowd

Harry Dowd (4 July 1938 – 2015) was an English goalkeeper who played for Manchester City, Stoke City and Oldham Athletic in a long Football League career; he was Manchester City's first-choice goalkeeper for the 1969 FA Cup Final, a 1–0 win

Sports Figures · Historical
J #13

John Dowd

John Leo Dowd (3 January 1891 – 31 January 1981) was an American Major League Baseball shortstop who played a brief stint for the New York Highlanders in 1912 — one season at the very end of the franchise's pre-Yankees era — before falling

Sports Figures · Historical
#14

John Dowdy

John Vernard Dowdy (11 February 1912 – 12 April 1995) was an American Democratic politician and lawyer who represented Texas in the US House of Representatives for two decades.

Politicians & Public Servants · Historical
#15

Kip Dowd

James Joseph Dowd was an American Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the 1910 Pittsburgh Pirates in one game o.

Sports Figures · Historical
#16

Mike O’Dowd

American boxer; World Middleweight Champion 1917-1920; only active boxing champion to fight at the front during World War I.

Sports Figures · Historical
#17

Alice Mary Dowd

Alice Mary Dowd (16 December 1855 – 2 July 1943) was an American educator, poet and author whose career, beginning at age seventeen, spanned more than three decades of American teaching across district school, evening school, private school

Writers & Journalists · Historical
B #18

Bernard J. Dowd

Bernard J.

Politicians & Public Servants · Historical
#19

Bill Dowdy

Bill Dowdy (15 August 1932 – 12 May 2017) was an American jazz drummer and music teacher who, with pianist Gene Harris and bassist Andrew Simpkins, formed The Three Sounds — one of the most commercially successful piano trios of the late-19

Musicians · Historical
#20

C. William Doody

C.

Politicians & Public Servants · Historical
C #21

Cecil Dowdy

Cecil Dowdy (1945–2002) was an American college football offensive tackle who was an All-American at the University of Alabama under Bear Bryant.

Sports Figures · Historical
#22

Christopher O’Dowd

Christopher O'Dowd MM (6 September 1920 – 6 October 1943) was an Irish founding member of the British Army's Special Air Service, killed in action in southern Italy during the Second World War.

Politicians & Public Servants · Soldiers & Veterans · Historical
C #23

Clement Dowd

Clement Dowd (27 August 1832 – 15 April 1898) was a North Carolina lawyer and Democratic politician who served as Mayor of Charlotte from 1869 to 1871, as a US Representative for North Carolina's 6th District from 1881 to 1885, and as Feder

Politicians & Public Servants · Historical
D #24

David W. Dowd

David William Dowd was an American Republican Party politician and minor league baseball player with the New York Yankee.

Politicians & Public Servants · Historical
E #25

Edward Doody

Edward Doody (15 December 1903 – 1968) was an Australian Roman Catholic bishop who served as Bishop of the Diocese of Armidale, in northern New South Wales, from 1948 until his death in 1968.

Politicians & Public Servants · Historical
#26

Harry Dowda

Harry Dowda (1922 – 2002) was an American professional football player who played for the Washington Redskins from 1949 to 1953 and the Philadelphia Eagles from 1954 to 1955.

Sports Figures · Historical
J #27

James Henry Dowd

James Henry Dowd, also known as J.

Visual Artists · Writers & Journalists · Historical
#28

James Thomas O’Dowd

American Catholic prelate; auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco (1948-1950); namesake of Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland.

Religion & Clergy · Historical
J #29

John O’Dowd

John O'Dowd was an Irish Nationalist Member of Parliament for North Sligo, March–September 1900, and for South Sligo, 19.

Politicians & Public Servants · Historical
P #30

Pat Doody

Pat Doody (11 November 1938 – 28 February 1990) was a British radio and television broadcaster best known for presenting *Night Ride* on BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 — the station's late-night easy-listening programme that ran for many years and

Writers & Journalists · Historical
#31

Patrick O’Dowd

Irish politician and medical practitioner; Fianna Fáil TD for Roscommon (5th, 6th and 8th Dáils); medical officer with the IRA during the War of Independence.

Politicians & Public Servants · Historical
#32

Peter Dowds

Peter Dowds (24 August 1871 – 2 September 1895) was a Scottish footballer who played in the inaugural Scottish Football League with Celtic and then in the Football League with Aston Villa and Stoke.

Sports Figures · Historical
#33

Peter O’Dowd

English professional footballer; central defender; capped three times by the England national football team.

Sports Figures · Historical
#34

Robert Dowd

Robert Dowd (1936–1996) was an American Pop-art painter and sculptor whose currency and postage-stamp paintings were among the founding works of the American Pop movement and who in 1962 hung in the Pasadena Art Museum's *New Painting of Co

Visual Artists · Historical
R #35

Ross Dowd

Ross Dowd was an American set decorator.

Actors, Comedians & Film · Historical
S #36

Sammy Duddy

Andrew Samuel Duddy, known as Sammy, was a Northern Irish actor, having joined the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) shor.

Politicians & Public Servants · Writers & Journalists · Historical
#37

Samuel Doody

Samuel Doody (28 May 1656 – November 1706) was an early English botanist and apothecary whose work as keeper of the Chelsea Physic Garden and pioneering studies of cryptogams placed him among the foremost natural historians of late-seventee

Scientists & Innovators · Historical
T #38

Timothy Joseph Dowd

Timothy Joseph Dowd (1915–2014) was the deputy chief of New York City Police Department (1940–1978) who led the manhunt.

Politicians & Public Servants · Historical
#39

Tommy Dowd

Tommy Dowd (20 April 1869 – 2 July 1933), nicknamed "Buttermilk Tommy," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder and second baseman from Holyoke, Massachusetts who played ten seasons in the majors between 1891 and 1901.

Sports Figures · Historical
#40

Wayne Dowd

American Democratic politician and lawyer; Arkansas State Senator (1978-2000); practised law in Texarkana for over four decades.

Politicians & Public Servants · Historical
#41

William Dowd

William Richmond Dowd (28 February 1922 – 25 November 2008) was an American harpsichord maker and one of the most important figures in the twentieth-century revival of historical-principles instrument building.

Scientists & Innovators · Historical
D #42

David Astor Dowdy Jr.

David Astor Dowdy Jr.

CEOs & Entrepreneurs · Visual Artists · Historical
D #43

Dinny Dowd

Denis Austin Dowd was an Australian rules footballer who played with Fitzroy, South Melbourne and North Melbourne in the.

Sports Figures · Historical
G #44

Greg Dowd

Australian rules footballer; played senior football for Footscray in the VFL.

Sports Figures · Historical
J #45

James O’Dowd

Sir James Cornelius O'Dowd was deputy Judge Advocate General (1869-1899).

Politicians & Public Servants · Writers & Journalists · Historical
J #46

Joseph J. Dowd

Joseph J.

Politicians & Public Servants · Historical
N #47

Nace O’Dowd

Ignatius "Nace" O'Dowd was an Irish Gaelic footballer who played for the Sligo county team in the 1950s and was a member.

Politicians & Public Servants · Historical
P #48

Patrick H. Doody

Patrick H.

Politicians & Public Servants · Historical
#49

Peadar O’Dowd

Peadar O'Dowd (died 3 January 2024) was an Irish local historian and author whose dozen or so books on the streets, families, churches, traders and dispossessed communities of Galway city and county made him one of the most prolific public

Academics · Writers & Journalists · Historical
#50

Sir James Cornelius O’Dowd

Mayo-born British military lawyer; Deputy Judge Advocate General of the British Army (1869-1899); knighted at Windsor Castle in 1900; author of a standard treatise on Court Martial.

Politicians & Public Servants · Soldiers & Veterans · Historical
#51

Thomas Butler Dowda

American Democratic politician; member of the Florida House of Representatives 1941-1953.

Politicians & Public Servants · Historical
W #52

William F. Dowd

William F.

Politicians & Public Servants · Historical
Living (60)
Living kin in this slice, ranked by signal.
#1

Shay O’Dowd

Glasgow singer-songwriter; Scottish Music Awards 2025 Breakthrough Award winner

Musicians · Living
#2

Sean O’Dowda Stephens

Ninth modern Taoiseach of the Ó Dubhda Clan; CEO and entrepreneur (Treefrog Inc.); singer-songwriter and guitarist

CEOs & Entrepreneurs · Heritage Bearers · Musicians · Social Media & Creators · Living
#3

Boy George

Culture Club frontman — Karma Chameleon, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me

Musicians · Social Media & Creators · Living
#4

Cameron Duddy

Music video director (Uptown Funk, 24K Magic); bassist of Midland

Actors, Comedians & Film · Musicians · Social Media & Creators · Living
#5

Chris O’Dowd

Actor, comedian, writer (The IT Crowd, Moone Boy, Bridesmaids)

Actors, Comedians & Film · Social Media & Creators · Living
#6

Alison Doody

Alison Doody (born 9 March 1966) is an Irish actress and former model who became one of the most internationally recognised Irish performers of the late 1980s through her early roles in two of the period's biggest film franchises.

Actors, Comedians & Film · Social Media & Creators · Living
#7

Gia Duddy

TikTok and Instagram lifestyle creator (650K+ TikTok, 320K+ Instagram)

Social Media & Creators · Living
#8

Cathy O’Dowd

Cathy O'Dowd (born 1968) is a South African mountaineer who, on 29 May 1999, became the first woman in history to summit Mount Everest from both its south side (Nepal, 25 May 1996, with the First South African Everest Expedition) and its no

Activists & Advocacy · Social Media & Creators · Sports Figures · Living
#9

Johnny Dowd

Johnny Dowd (born John David Dowd; 29 March 1948 in Fort Worth, Texas) is an American alternative country musician based in Ithaca, New York whose songs are notable for their experimental noisy breaks and strong gothic — dark, gloomy, often

Musicians · Social Media & Creators · Living
#10

Matt O’Dowd

Matt O'Dowd is an Australian-born astrophysicist who is Associate Professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department at Lehman College of the City University of New York and Research Associate at the American Museum of Natural History.

Scientists & Innovators · Social Media & Creators · Living
#11

Max O’Dowd

New Zealand-born Dutch international cricketer (right-handed opening batsman, 3 ICC Men's T20 World Cups)

Sports Figures · Living
#12

Sarah Doody

UX & Tech career coach; founder of Career Strategy Lab; 34K+ YouTube subscribers, 20K+ Instagram followers

Social Media & Creators · Living
#13

Ann Dowd

Emmy-winning actress (Handmaid's Tale, The Leftovers, Hereditary)

Actors, Comedians & Film · Living
#14

Cathie Wood

Founder and CEO of ARK Invest; thematic-innovation fund manager

CEOs & Entrepreneurs · Scientists & Innovators · Living
#15

Seamie O’Dowd

Seamie O'Dowd is an Irish folk and traditional musician from County Sligo — a multi-instrumentalist whose principal instrument is guitar but who plays fiddle, harmonica, mandolin and a number of others, and who sings and writes his own mate

Musicians · Living
#16

Callum O’Dowda

Callum O'Dowda (born 23 April 1995) is an Irish-English professional footballer who plays as a left winger and left back for Ferencváros in the Hungarian Nemzeti Bajnokság I and the Republic of Ireland national team.

Social Media & Creators · Sports Figures · Living
#17

Maureen Dowd

Pulitzer-winning New York Times Op-Ed columnist

Social Media & Creators · Writers & Journalists · Living
#18

Michael Dowd

Former NYPD officer convicted of racketeering and narcotics conspiracy in 1992; subject of the 2014 documentary film The Seven Five; case central to the Mollen Commission inquiry into NYPD corruption.

Politicians & Public Servants · Living
#19

Nic Dowd

NHL center (Washington Capitals); rare Alabama-born NHLer

Sports Figures · Living
#20

Peter Dowd

Labour MP for Bootle (2015–); ex-Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Politicians & Public Servants · Social Media & Creators · Living
#21

Jeff Dowd

Jeff Dowd (born 1949) is an American film producer, publicist and political activist who is best known to the wider public as the principal real-life inspiration for the character of Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski in the Coen Brothers' *The Bi

Activists & Advocacy · Actors, Comedians & Film · Living
#22

Jim Dowd

NHL center, 1995 Stanley Cup champion (New Jersey Devils)

Sports Figures · Living
#23

John M. Dowd

American attorney best known for leading Major League Baseball's 1989 investigation of Pete Rose (the "Dowd Report") and for serving as Donald Trump's lead personal attorney in the Mueller Special Counsel investigation from 2017 to 2018.

Politicians & Public Servants · Living
#24

John O’Dowd

Sinn Féin MLA for Upper Bann; NI Finance Minister

Politicians & Public Servants · Social Media & Creators · Living
#25

Matthew Dowd

Matthew J.

Politicians & Public Servants · Social Media & Creators · Writers & Journalists · Living
#26

Nancy Dowd

Oscar-winning screenwriter (Coming Home, Slap Shot)

Writers & Journalists · Living
#27

Ned Dowd

Ned Dowd (born 1950) is an American actor, line producer and former minor-league professional hockey player whose hockey experiences directly inspired his sister Nancy Dowd's screenplay for the cult sports comedy *Slap Shot* (1977).

Actors, Comedians & Film · Living
#28

Phil Dowd

Phil Dowd (born 4 July 1963) is a retired English professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League across fifteen seasons of top-flight refereeing.

Sports Figures · Living
#29

Robert Alfred Dowd

American Catholic priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross; 18th president of the University of Notre Dame since 2024; political scientist of religion and democracy in Africa.

Academics · Religion & Clergy · Living
#30

Robert Dowd

English professional ice hockey player; captain of the Sheffield Steelers; the EIHL's all-time leading point-scorer; six-time EIHL champion; Great Britain national-team captain.

Sports Figures · Living
#31

Dan O’Dowd

American baseball executive; general manager of the Colorado Rockies (1999-2014).

Sports Figures · Living
#32

Fergus O’Dowd

Fine Gael TD for Louth (2002–2024); ex–Minister of State, NewEra

Politicians & Public Servants · Social Media & Creators · Living
#33

Jade O’Dowda

Jade O'Dowda (born 9 September 1999) is an Irish-English international heptathlete who won the bronze medal in the women's heptathlon at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, representing England.

Sports Figures · Living
#34

Jim Dowd

Jim Dowd (born 5 March 1951) is a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament for Lewisham West from 1992 to 2017.

Politicians & Public Servants · Living
#35

John Dowd

John Dowd (born 1965) is an American professional motocross and supercross racer from New England — celebrated within the AMA scene as one of the great sand-track specialists, a particular mastery suited to the strength-sapping, deep-sand c

Sports Figures · Living
#36

John Duddy

Boxer-actor; "Derry Destroyer" middleweight, then Hands of Stone (2016)

Actors, Comedians & Film · Sports Figures · Living
#37

Ken O’Dowd

Australian politician; Liberal National Party member of the House of Representatives for the Division of Flynn (2010-2022).

Politicians & Public Servants · Living
#38

Kevin Dowd

British economist; Professor of Finance and Economics at Durham University Business School; leading academic exponent of free banking and private money.

Academics · Living
#39

Kris O’Dowd

American college football center for the USC Trojans; first true freshman in USC history to start a game at centre; Parade All-American and First-team All-Pac-10.

Sports Figures · Living
#40

Kyle Dowdy

American former professional baseball pitcher; appeared in Major League Baseball for the Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians.

Sports Figures · Living
#41

Margaret Doody

Margaret Anne Doody (born 1939) is a Canadian novelist and literary scholar — Professor of Literature at the University of Notre Dame, where she helped found the PhD in Literature programme and served as its Director from 2001 to 2007 — bes

Academics · Writers & Journalists · Living
#42

Niall O’Dowd

Founder of Irish America, Irish Voice, IrishCentral; NI peace process

Social Media & Creators · Writers & Journalists · Living
#43

Patrick Doody

American retired professional soccer player; Chicago Fire homegrown signing; Indiana University College Cup winner 2012.

Sports Figures · Living
#44

Patrick Duddy

Patrick Dennis Duddy is an American career diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Venezuela through one of the most dramatic stretches of US-Venezuelan relations under Hugo Chávez.

Politicians & Public Servants · Living
#45

Thomas Dowd

Thomas Edward Dowd (born 11 September 1970) is a Canadian Catholic prelate who has served as Bishop of Sault Ste Marie, Ontario since 22 October 2020.

Politicians & Public Servants · Living
#46

Wayne Dowdy

Charles Wayne Dowdy (born 27 July 1943) is an American politician, lawyer and jurist who represented Mississippi's 4th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives from 1981 to 1989.

Politicians & Public Servants · Living
A #47

Adam Dowdy

American former professional baseball umpire; worked more than 400 games as a Major League Baseball reserve umpire between 2002 and 2007.

Sports Figures · Living
#48

Alex O’Dowd

New Zealand rugby union coach and former first-class cricketer; coached the Netherlands national rugby side; father of Dutch international cricketer Max O'Dowd.

Sports Figures · Living
#49

Colin O’Dowd

Colin Dermot O'Dowd is an Irish physicist and atmospheric scientist whose research on aerosols, air-sea exchange and the role of biogenic and marine aerosol in cloud formation has made him one of the most highly-cited atmospheric researcher

Academics · Scientists & Innovators · Living
D #50

Dakoda Dowd

Dakoda Flowie Dowd, also known as "Koda", is an American amateur golfer.

Sports Figures · Living
#51

David O’Dowd

Sir David Joseph O'Dowd (born 20 February 1942) is a retired British senior police officer who served as His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary for England and Wales from 1996 to 2001.

Politicians & Public Servants · Living
#52

Donald O’Dowd

Donald Davy O'Dowd (born 23 January 1927) is an American academic and university administrator.

Academics · Living
#53

Graham Dowd

Graham William Dowd (born 17 December 1963) is a former All Blacks rugby union player who, despite being widely rated the second-best hooker in New Zealand at the height of his career, made just a single Test appearance in his All Blacks ca

Sports Figures · Living
H #54

Hayley Dowd

Hayley Dowd is an American professional soccer player who played as a striker for AS Saint-Étienne.

Sports Figures · Living
#55

Hugh Dowd

Hugh Dowd (born 19 May 1951) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer, an accomplished centre-half who began his career at his hometown Glenavon in Lurgan, County Armagh and went on to captain the Northern Ireland Amateur side.

Sports Figures · Living
#56

J. Steven Dowd

American businessman and federal appointee; United States Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) confirmed 2020; previously US Director of the African Development Bank.

CEOs & Entrepreneurs · Politicians & Public Servants · Living
#57

Jennifer Beam Dowd

American social scientist; Professor of Demography and Population Health and deputy director of the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science at the University of Oxford; founding member of public-health collective Dear Pandemic.

Academics · Scientists & Innovators · Living
J #58

Jennifer Dowds

Jennifer Dowds (born 1959) is a Northern Irish international lawn bowler who won the bronze medal in the fours at the 2008 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Sports Figures · Living
J #59

John Doody

American politician and judge; Republican Illinois state legislator (1995-1997) and later a judge of the Cook County Circuit Court.

Politicians & Public Servants · Living
#60

John Dowd

John Robert Arthur Dowd AO KC (born 12 November 1940) is a former leader of the Liberal Party of Australia in New South Wales and a former Attorney-General of New South Wales.

Politicians & Public Servants · Living
In Memoriam (1)
Remembered by their kin.

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