Dennehy

The name Dennehy is principally associated with Irish counties Cork and Kerry. In Cork, the name is most common in the Duhallow area, around the Blackwater river. The original form in Irish is Ó Duineachdha meaning descendant of Duineachaidh. Duineachaidh was chieftain of a small tribe in north-western Co. Waterford, on the border of Co. Cork who participated in the battles against the Danes in Limerick in 934. The name goes back to the 11th century recorded in the Battle of Dublin. There are two meanings of the name in the books. One is "humane" and the other is "man from the fairy hills". Variations include "duineachaidh", meaning pure. This sept is from the same ancestral line as the O'Sullivan family. Maonach Ui(O)Duineachdha was the founder of the sept.

Variants are Denehy, Dannahy, Danahy, Denahy, Dennany, Danehy, Danihy. Donaghy is not a variant of Dennehy, as some think; it's a variant of (O) Donoghue, exclusive to Ulster. The Dennehy coat of arms is a divided shield, white on top, red on the bottom. The top has two lions rampart facing each other and a fish between them. The bottom is a harp between two battle axes. It is similar to Mulvihil arms but without the "red hand" and the crest is different. This can be found in "The Atlas and Cyclopedia of Ireland" by P.W. Joyce 1909 and "Irish Family Names" by Patrick Kelly, 1939.

There is an arms that is wrongly associated with the name: a red shield with a white diagonal cross. This ironically is the arms of the English Denny family that attacked the Irish in the Cork/Kerry area and took their lands. When coat of arms became popular and profitable dealers began assigning arms to names that sounded the same. Unfortunately there have been many mistakes.

One of the earliest references on record is to Donall Ó Denaghie of Cloghea, Co. Cork who in 1585 is described as vestarus, the primary meaning of which is the keeper of monastic wardrobe, later used for keeper of a vestry.

Notable Name Bearers

• Major-General Sir Thomas Dennehy
• Daniel Henry Deniehy
• Brian Dennehy

David Dennehy

Other instances of this name

• Dennehy's Cross is a major intersection in Cork.