Dowd Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Dowd Family History

Dowd Family History

The family history of the ancient name Dowd was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. The names Dowd and O'Dowd are derived from the Gaelic O'Dubhda sept who were a branch of the Northern Ui Fiachrach, County Sligo.

A sept or clan is a collective term describing a group of persons whose immediate ancestors bore a common surname and inhabited the same territory. It is also the case that many Irish septs or clans that are related often belong to a larger groups, sometimes called tribes. For example the 'Tribes of Galway' consisted of fourteen distinct families. The 'Tribes of Kilkenny' were ten families, etc.

This name is one of many in Gaelic that originates from the Gaelic word 'dubh' meaning 'black'. Other modern variants of the name are O'Dowda and Dowds, with Doody, another synonym, found in Killarney, County Kerry. The Sligo sept traces its descent from Fiachra, brother of the famous 'Niall of the Nine Hostages', through Daithi, the last pagan King of Ireland. A quite distinct minor sept of O'Dubhda was located in County Derry. Survivors of this sept in Ulster today are usually called Duddy. The Dowd family crest (or coat of arms) came into existence many centuries ago. The process of creating these coats of arms began as early as the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this, including Ireland. The new more formalized art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own family crest, coat of arms, including Dowd descendants.