Ó Donnghaile · Est. County Tyrone

Wear the name you were given.

The arms of Ó Donnghaile: two red lions holding the Red Hand of Ulster above the Salmon of Knowledge. Printed to order on heavyweight cotton.

Shop the collectionWhat the crest means
The Donnelly coat of arms: two red lions supporting the Red Hand of Ulster above a salmon

The arms of Ó Donnghaile

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One shield, three stories.

The Donnelly arms aren't decoration — every charge on the shield is a claim about who the family was.

Donnelly is the anglicised Ó Donnghaile — descendant of Donnghal, from donn (brown) and gal (valour). The sept belonged to the Cenél nEógain of Ulster, kin to the O'Neills, and held its seat at Ballydonnelly — Baile Uí Dhonnghaile, "Donnelly's town" — in County Tyrone.

The Red Hand of Ulster from the Donnelly arms

The Red Hand

The emblem of the uí Néill kings of Ulster, older than heraldry itself — carried on their standards centuries before the Normans brought coats of arms to Ireland. The Donnellys bear it by blood.

A red rampant lion from the Donnelly arms

Two Lions, Combatant

Rearing lions face each other in defence of the hand between them. The Donnellys were hereditary marshals of O'Neill's forces — the lions are the family's job description.

The salmon from the base of the Donnelly arms

The Salmon

In Irish legend the Salmon of Knowledge carried all the world's wisdom in its flesh. On the shield it swims beneath the battle above — learning under valour.

Ó Donnghaile
"descendant of brown-haired valour"
Cenél nEógain
the O'Neill kindred of Ulster
Ballydonnelly
the Tyrone townland that bears the name
c. 5th century
the Red Hand on uí Néill standards

The collection

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From the journal

  • Engraved portrait of Dan Donnelly, Irish bare-knuckle champion

    Four famous Donnellys

    A bishop who hid as a wandering harper, a boxer whose arm outlived him by two centuries, and a family in Ontario whose name became a byword. The surname travelled...

    Four famous Donnellys

    A bishop who hid as a wandering harper, a boxer whose arm outlived him by two centuries, and a family in Ontario whose name became a byword. The surname travelled...

  • An 1868 engraving of Castle Caulfield in ruins, built on the O’Donnelly seat at Ballydonnelly

    Ballydonnelly: the townland that lost its name

    For centuries there was a place in County Tyrone called Donnelly's town. It is not called that any more — and the story of how it changed hands, and what...

    Ballydonnelly: the townland that lost its name

    For centuries there was a place in County Tyrone called Donnelly's town. It is not called that any more — and the story of how it changed hands, and what...

  • The Donnelly coat of arms: two red lions supporting the Red Hand of Ulster above a salmon

    The Donnelly coat of arms, explained

    Two red lions, a severed hand and a salmon. Every charge on the Donnelly shield is a claim about who the family was — and one of them is shared...

    The Donnelly coat of arms, explained

    Two red lions, a severed hand and a salmon. Every charge on the Donnelly shield is a claim about who the family was — and one of them is shared...

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