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DOWLING History
The name comes from Ireland at around 350 AD.
The name is a Gaelic Irish Surname that originally referred to the 'Sept' of Ui Dublhaoidh who were Lords of Fertullagh in the County of Westmeath around that time. This is in the South East of Ireland. The Topographies of O'Heeran, O'Dugan, O'Brien, O'Halloran and others also refer to Dowlings as Chiefs of various clans in Ossory, Offaly and Leix (or Kilkenny, King's and Queen's County).
In the ancient kingdom of Leinster (a province which covers the South-East of Ireland) were the Irish Chiefs and Septs of Hy-Kinselagh and Cualan. In their lands the Dowlings were Chiefs of Siol Elaigh and the Lagan. Siol Elaigh is now in the Barony of Shilelagh in South of County Wicklow.
A 'Sept' is not a 'Clan' in those days a Sept was more akin to a social interdependent grouping rather than a set of linked relatives. Eventually, of course, it did become a family surname.
The original territory of the family was at Fearann ua n-Dunlaing (O'Dowling's Country). This area covered along Western bank of the River Barrow. The O'Dowling's were one of the Seven Septs of Leix, significant families in the County once called Queen's County.
In the 16th and 17th centuries the family was prominent, in that same locality, but subject to transplanting by the English to other parts of the island. A large transplantation in 1609 took Dowlings to Tarbert on the border of Limerick and Kerry.
Whilst they can be found today in almost every county in Ireland they are still most numerous around Carlow, Kilkenny, Cork and Leix.
Towns with Dowling Names
Costume
Dubh is Irish for black or dark (this could be black as in bad or dark skinned or dark featured or great, prodigious, or can mean burned). It is interesting to note here that Dublin or Dubhlinn, the capital city of Ireland, means black pool. It is near this pool that the Norsemen built their fortress in the 9th century.
Laodh is Irish for calf.
The o' or ua means grandson or perhaps more realistically a male descendant. It is important to note that Dowling in this very early context was probably not a surname as we understand it at all, as O'Dowling was a male descendant of a man whose baptismal name was Dowling.
That is not to say an O'Dowling is a male descended from a black calf! The true reasons for the name are lost in time. It is more likely that the calf, however described, was a symbol to indicate the individual. Perhaps the original Dowling owned the calf or used one to mark the entrance to his territory. Perhaps the expression was used in the way today we may use the expression 'black sheep of the family' to describe an outcast. It should be noted that it is very rare in Ireland, as opposed to England, to call people after places so it is unlikely to refer to being from a place.
The variation Dubhshláin means challenge.
There are a number of variations on the ancient Irish name, all about as liable to variation as the anglicised versions below, including:
O'Dubhlaoich - more properly a translation of O'Dooley O'Dubhlaich - more properly a translation of O'Dooley (The Four Masters) O'Dubhlaoidh - more properly O'Dowling, Dooling, Doolin, Doolan ( O'Dubhlaing - more properly a translation of O'Doolan (Connaught) O'Dubhlainn -more properly a translation of O'Doolan (Munster) O'Dunlaing - generally O'Dowling. O'Dunlainge - generally O'Dowling. O'Dobhailen - generally O'Dolan or O'Dolen. O'Dubhlain - more properly a translation of O'Dolan
The O' was, as with many other prefixes to Irish names, dropped in the practice of anglicisation which occurred predominantly around the 18th century. Direct religious persecution is not necessarily the cause as many still kept faith in those times but it was more a matter of social expression when communicating with protestants.
Further variations are common today as different branches stemming from the same tree:
Doolan, Doolen, Dolan, Dowley, Dulen, Dooly, Dooley and more.
Although Dowling is English in appearance, the name is rarely found originating in Great Britain. An English version is derived from 'Dolling' which is Olde English for Dull One.
Partly sourced from: Annala Rioghachta Eireann. Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters ... to 1616. Ed. by John O'Donovan Dublin 1851. from Irish Families- Their Names and Origins, Edward MacLysaght (1972) Allen Figgis and Co Ltd.
Copyright © 1998 Brian Dowling. All rights reserved.
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1662
- History of the Dowling Coat of Arms
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| Heraldic Description of Coat of Dowling Arms | ||||||||||||
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Translation of Heraldic Description Arms: Silver shield with a holly tree showing its roots in its natural colours. Then on a blue top third of the shield (note: this is part of the design rather than a denotation of the joining of families), a lion facing left with foreleg raised between two leaves with three petals showing stalks in gold. Crest: A blue lion’s head torn raggedly with two gold rings around neck. |
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| Pictures of Coat of Arms | ||||||||||||
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Click on Thumbnail for large version and wait... |
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| Family Motto | ||||||||||||
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Fortis
et Egregius |
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| Collins Latin Dictionary Pub. Harper Collins 1999 - (ISBN 0-00-472092-X) | ||||||||||||
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| Irish Heraldry - Using the Coat of Arms | ||||||||||||
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Unlike the English system of heraldry where the coat of arms can be carried only by the direct descendant the Irish system allows that all bearers of the name Dowling can use these arms. Whilst this does not apply to all Irish coats of arms it is common to many. More on Heraldry can be found here |
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The Dowlings are one of the "Seven Septs of Leix", the leading members
of which were transplanted to Tarbert on the border of north Kerry and west
Limerick in 1609. this transplantation did not affect the rank and file of the
sept who multiplied in their original territory: this lay along the western bank
of the River Barrow, anciently called Fearann ua n-Dunlaing I.e. O'Dowling's
country. Thence they spread eastwards through Counties Carlow and Kilkenny
(where they are most numerous to-day) and even as far as Co. Wicklow - there are
no less than four townlands called Ballydowling in the Rathdrum area of Co.
Wicklow. The transplantation to Kerry had little permanent effect as regards
numbers; nevertheless, two or three of the many Dowlings of distinction, nearly
all of whom were connected with literary activities in some form, were Kerrymen:
viz. Bartholomew Dowling (1823-1863), author of The Brigade of Fountenoy and his
brother William Dowling, a poet identified with America rather than with his own
country; Most Rev. Austin Dowling (1868-1930), Archbishop of St. Paul's U.S.A.,
was of a family which emigrated from Co. Kerry or Co. Limerick. All the others
were natives of Leix or one of the adjoining counties. Among these we may
mention Vincent Dowling (1787-1844), colonial judge and author of legal
treatises, and Vincent George Dowling (1785-1852), founder, and editor for
nearly thirty years, of Bell's life and also of Fistiana, publications which
were carried on in turn by his son Frank Lewis Dowling (1821-1867); Richard
Dowling (1846-1898), novelist and editor of the Dublin humorous journals Zozimus
and Ireland's Eye, was also a Leix man, as was Dr. Jeremiah Dowling (1830-1906),
author of The Claddagh Boatman; and, to go back some three centuries, there was
Thady Dowling (1544-1628), annalist and Irish language grammarian.
