Daly

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic Ó Dálaigh and carried by many people across Ireland and elsewhere
2. An Irish family surname originating from the Gaelic name Ó Dálaigh, borne by numerous people in Ireland and abroad
3. A surname of Gaelic Irish origin, traceable to Ó Dálaigh, that is held by a large number of families around the world

Etymology: The surname Daly is an anglicisation of the Irish Ó Dálaigh, meaning "descendant of Dálach." The personal name Dálach is built on the Irish adjective dálach, which means "frequenting meetings," a sense that ties the name to the word dáil, an assembly or council. A family name that sounds like a plain English word is therefore really a record of an Irish assembly-goer's name, carried down through generations and reshaped by English spelling. The Irish prefix Ó, "grandson of" or "descendant of," was dropped in most English-language forms of the name. Many Irish surnames went through this same process, with the Gaelic original rendered phonetically in English and the prefix often disappearing, which is why the modern spelling looks so unlike the Irish form.