Donahue

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ORIGIN AND HISTORY

Donahue is Gaelic in origin, having morphed from the clan name “Ó Donnchadha.” “O” means “grandson of” and Donnchadha was a given name related to Duncan. “Donn” meant “brown-haired man” and “cath” meant “battle,” so the name may be interpreted as “brown-haired fighter” or simply “dark fighter.” “Donn” may also mean “chieftain.”^[1] The surname Donahue may be traced back to the county Kerry in southwestern Ireland.^[1]

POPULARITY

Donahue may be used as a boy’s first name, but it has not been popular enough to enter the top 1000 chart in the United States in any recorded year.^[1] Giving children surnames as first names is a very common trend right now, so a rise in popularity is quite possible for Donahue.^[1]

Donahue is a very common surname in the United States. According to WhitePages.com, it is the 922nd most common surname. The highest concentration of people with the last name Donahue is in Massachusetts, but there are also hundreds of listings in Pennsylvania, New York, Florida and California.^[1] During the 19th century, most Donahues in England were to be found in Lancashire.^[1] However, the name was far more common in Ireland.^[1]

FACTS

• There were more than 800 people with the last name Donahue who fought in the Civil War. Almost all of them fought on the Union side.^[1]

NAMESAKES

• Donahue, Iowa
• Donahue’s Greenhouse
• The Donahue Corporation
• Donahue Institute: University of Massachusetts
• Donahue Schriber
• Donahue Harley Davidson, Delano, Minnesota
• Donahue Foundation: tuition assistance for private schools

FAMOUS PERSONS

• Ann Donahue: screenwriter and creator of the CSI franchise (born 1955)
• Bill Donahue: writer
• Deacon Donahue: baseball player
• Elinor Donahue: actor (born April 19, 1937)
• Heather Donahue: actress (born December 22, 1974)
• Jiggs Donahue: baseball player
• John Donahue: baseball player, Boston Red Sox (born April 19, 1894)
• Jonathan Donahue: guitarist for The Flaming Lips (born May 6, 1966)
• Joseph Donahue: American poet (born September 22, 1954)
• Michael O'Donoghue: head writer for Saturday Night Live (born January 5, 1940)
• Oscar Donahue: football player
• Pat Donahue: baseball player
• Phil Donahue: Talk-show host, The Phil Donahue Show (born December 21, 1935)
• Red Donahue: baseball player (born January 23, 1873)
• She Donahue: baseball player
• Steve Donahue: motivational speaker
• Tim Donahue: baseball player (born June 8, 1870)
• Tim Donahue: Executive Chairman of Sprint Nextel
• Troy Donahue (stage name): actor (born January 27, 1936)

NOTES

References:
http://www.babynamefacts.com/babynames/namesakes.php?name=Donahue http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donahue http://www.thinkbabynames.com/search.php?s=Donahue&g=1&t=1

OTHER DONAHUE'S

Donahue Aitcheson, Donahue Bailey, More results

Author: Sarena Emily Levinson