Daly - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó Dálaigh
Meaning: “assembly, gathering”
Traditional stronghold: Westmeath, Cork
A famous family of bards.
Pronunciation: DAY-lee; Irish O Dalaigh: oh DAWL-ee
History of the Daly name
Daly derives from Dalach, meaning roughly 'one who attends assemblies', and the O'Dalys became Ireland's most prolific hereditary family of fili, or professional poets, to Gaelic lords across the country, with distinct branches serving patrons in Meath, Westmeath, Cork, Clare and elsewhere. Their poetic training was formal and highly prized, and members of the family composed verse for chieftains for many generations, giving Daly a scattered distribution across several provinces rather than one single territorial base, unusual among Gaelic surnames of comparable prominence.
Variants: Daley · O'Daly · Dawley
Famous bearers of the name
- Cardinal Cahal Daly - Catholic Primate of All Ireland in the 1990s
- Ita Daly - Irish novelist and short-story writer
- Marcus Daly - Irish-American copper-mining magnate in Montana
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Murphy · O'Sullivan · McCarthy · Collins · Flynn · Healy · Casey · Hayes