Devine — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó Daimhín
Meaning: 'descendant of Daimhín (little ox or stag)'
Traditional stronghold: Fermanagh, Tyrone
Pronunciation: deh-VINE or deh-VEEN; Irish Ó Daimhín: oh DAV-een
History of the Devine name
Ó Daimhín derives from a diminutive of damh, meaning 'ox' or 'stag', and the sept were chiefs of Tirkennedy in Co. Fermanagh, a branch of the same royal Airgialla stock as the Maguires who displaced them as the ruling family of the county in the 14th century. Thereafter the Devines remained an important Fermanagh and Tyrone family, and the name is still most numerous in mid-Ulster, with a significant presence in Derry city. The attractive English spelling Devine, suggesting the French devin, disguises the name's thoroughly Gaelic origin, and some families anglicised it further to Davin, notably in Tipperary, where a separate family of that form produced a founder of the GAA.
Variants: Devin · Davin · Devane
Famous bearers of the name
- Micky Devine — Derry INLA volunteer, the last of the ten men to die on the 1981 hunger strike.
- John Devine — Dublin footballer who played for Arsenal and the Republic of Ireland in the early 1980s.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: O'Neill · Quinn · Maguire · Flanagan · Cassidy · Donnelly · Lennon · McGrath