Dooley Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Dooley Family History

Dooley Family History

The Dooley ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. Variants of the Irish name Dooley include Dowley and O'Dooley. The modern form of this name in Irish is O'Dubhlaoich. The ancient manuscript, the 'Four Masters', record the name as O'Dughlaich, describing their chiefs in the eleventh and twelfth centuries as Lords of Fertullagh, which is in the south-eastern end of County Westmeath. The census of 1659 shows them to be very numerous in Leix and Offaly in the seventeenth century and it is in Offaly and surrounding counties that the majority of descendants can still today be found. The Gaelic name itself is taken from the words 'dubh' and 'laoch' which translate as 'black champion' or 'dark hero'.The Dooley 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 Dooley descendants.