According to the Dictionary of Irish Family Names:
"(O) Donoghue
Irish Gaelic: O Donnachadha O Donnchu
Variants: Donohoe Donohue
Today the Donoghue, or Donahoe name is widespread. Thir family name comes from the personal name, Donnchadh, which is anglicized to Donogh. They descend from a twelfh century king of Munster who took part in the battle of Clontarf. Their most enduring territory was Cork and Kerry. When the sept divided, several of the O Donoghues spread north into Galway, Kilkenny and Cavan.
The head of the Kerry sept, O Donoghue Mór, had his stronghold at Ross Castle on Lough Lene, Killarney. He is known as O Donoghue of the Glens, as is the present representative, who can style himself The O Donoghue, one of the authenticated old Irish chieftaincies. In his pedigree in Irish Family Records, he mentions that his father was deprived of his command in the British army in 1922 for joining a mutiny by the Irish serving in the British army in India and that he subsequently joined the newly formed Irish army.
When the O Donoghues were forced to flee Ireland, they served with distiction in the armies of Europe. A descendant who settle in Spain, Joan O Donju, has been described as "the last Spaniard to rule Mexico"
Their sheild is mostly green with two white foxes. The upper section is white with a black eagle. Their crest is an arm in armour holding a sword intertwined with a green serpent.
John Doyle
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