Hi, Your name is Ashley? My maternal grandmother's name was Ashley, from New Bedford, Massachusetts. Doug On Sat, Aug 20, 2011 at 7:11 AM, <GAshley923@aol.com> wrote: > > The history of this ancient Perthshire family traces its ancestry as a > family of > Dalriadian origin before the year 1100 and appears first in the ancient > records > in Perthshire. A book on Ulster surnames, found at the Carnegie Library in > Pittsburgh, gives the following information on the name: (please forgive > me for > not keeping the book name for reference) “The MacConaghy, MacConkey, > MacDonagh, > Donaghy and Duncan names all stem from the Scots and Irish Gaelic personal > name > Donnchadh, meaning ‘brown warrior’ (from donn and cath). This gives > the personal > names Donagh in Ireland and Duncan in Scotland. In Ireland, the > MacDonaghs, > Gaelic Mac Donnchadha, are most numerous in Connacht where they are a > branch of > the MacDermots. A variant of MacDonagh in counties Tyrone and Derry is Mac > Donnchaidh, which was anglicised first to MacDonaghy and then Donaghy. In > Co > Fermanagh, it is thought that most Donaghys descent from Donnchadh > Ceallach > Maguire, who led the Maguire conquest of Clakelly in the mid-fifteenth > century. > However, the Scottich Clan Robertson of Atholl in Perthshire was equally > well > known as Clan Donnachie, Gaelic Clann Donnchaidh, after its chief Fat > Duncan > (Donncha Reamhar) de Atholia who lived at the time of Robert the Bruce in > the > fourteenth century and led the clan at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. > The > MacConachies (also MacConaghy and MacConkey) were a sept of Clan > Robertson, > their family name in Gaelic being Mac Dhonnchaidh. (the ‘h’ after > the ‘D’ makes > it silent, thus sounding as Mac’onachie.) Also, after the 1745 > rebellion, many > members of Clan Robertson adopted the name Donachie to conceal their > identity. > There were also several MacConochie septs of Clan Campbell, one of which, > the > MacConachies of Inverawe in Argyllshire, descend from the > fourteenth-century > Duncan or Donachie Campbell of Lochow. The Clan Gregor MacConachies > descend from > the three sons of Duncan, seventeenth chief of MacGregor, by his second > wife. > There was also an old sept of Macconachies on the island of Bute. In > Ulster all > this becomes very complicated. As has already been stated, Donaghy is also > an > Irish name. Duncan, though a Scottish name used as an aglicisation of > Donachie > and MacConachie, has also in Ulster been used for the Irish Donaghy, as > well as > Donegan and Dinkin. MacConaghy has been noted as a synonym for Conaty, > MacConaughty, MacConnerty and even Quinn. > Within Ulster, MacConaghy and MacConkey are mostly found in Co. Antrim. > Donaghy > is most common in counties Antrim, Derry and Tyrone and Duncan in counties > Antrim and Tyrone. MacDonagh is most numerous in Fermanagh.†> Some McConnaghy’s believe themselves to be Irish, some consider > themselves > Scotch. My theory is that, obviously, we can be either or both, > considering that > the area called Ulster included both Scotland and Ireland in ancient > times, and > MacConahy’s and variants are found across that land. Not to mention > that many > moved from Ireland to Scotland to escape certain wars. I think it is safer > to > say Scotch-Irish for most of us. > Some variations of our name include: McConnaughey, McConnaughay, > McConaughy, > McConnaughhay, McConahy, McConnahie, McConaha, McConahay, McConahea, > MacConahie, > MacConaghy, McConaghy, McConnaghy, McConaty, McConnaghty, McConachie, > McConaghy, > McConaghie, McConaughey, McConahey, McConahe, etc. > This variety of spellings, above, does not confine itself to one > particular > family. Indeed, any one particular McConnaughy family, could be found > under half > a dozen or more spellings, so it is no good insisting that a name was > always > spelled a certain way. People often could not read or write, so had no > idea how > to spell their own name. It depended on the whim, or knowledge of the > scribe who > wrote it down, as to how it might be spelled. > Should any of you have additional information on the name, or your > particular > spelling, please pass along the information so that we can share it in a > future > newsletter > > > _http://genforum.genealogy.com/mcconnaughey/messages/190.html_ > (http://genforum.genealogy.com/mcconnaughey/messages/190.html) > > R1b1c7 Research and Links: > > http://clanmaclochlainn.com/R1b1c7/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > DNA-R1B1C7-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message