Doyle = Irish but also English

The modern English language version of "Dubh-Ghaill" in Ireland today is "Doyle", "O’Doyle" or "Dowell", "McDowell", and in Scotland it is "Dougall" or "MacDougall" (the modern Scots pronunciation is closer to the original Gaelic).

In Ulster and Roscommon, these names now exist as "McDowell" and "Dowell", and are carried on by the descendants of the original immigrant Irish/Scots/Norse Galloglass mercenaries.

A more complete list of surname varients include all the following:

Dougall, Dowell, Doyle, O'Doyle, DubhGhaill, MacDowall, MacDowell, McDougal, McDougall, McDoughall, McDowall, McDowel, McDowell.

History of the Doyle family:

Members of Clan Doyle /Clann O DubhGhaill ("Dubh-Ghaill" ... pronounced "Du-Gall") take their family surname from the Irish Gaelic words meaning "Dark/Evil Foreigner"; and this is just what the indigenous Celts called the Danish Vikings who started settling in Ireland and Scotland more than 1,000 years ago.

In Ireland, the annalists distinguished two groups among the raiding Vikings, the Lochlainn, or Norwegians, and the Danair, or Danes, the Norwegians being described as fair, the Danish as dark (because they wore chain-mail armour). Initially, the Norwegians dominated, and their raids were sporadic and unsystematic.

From about 830, however a new phase of large-scale attacks, involving the use of fleets of long-ships, began, and the Vikings penetrated deep inland though the use of rivers and lakes. Attracted by the wealth of the monasteries and churches they plundered them steadily. From this period date the first Vikings' fortified settlements. In 852, the Danes wrested control of one of these settlements, the military and trading post of Dublin, from the Norwegians under their king Olaf (in Irish Amlaoimh), and founded the Danish Kingdom of Dublin which was to last three hundred years, until the coming of the Anglo-Normans. Want more, try this link: -> Meaning of the Doyle name

Famous persons:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), author of the Sherlock Holmes novels was the grandson of Dubliner John Doyle (1797-1868) was a portrait painter who eventually found success as the political cartoonist "HB" in Punch magazine. Jack Doyle (1913-78), originally from Cork, was a famous heavyweight boxer, singer, actor and socialite. The Doyles of Bramblestown in Kilkenny produced a remarkable series of distinguished soldiers between 1750 and 1850, including no fewer than six major-generals.

Doyle family crest, coat of arms

Doyle family crest

The Doyle, Force and Eustice family

We are searching for Cathrine (Katy - Cathy) Doyle born 1873. Married to Ullyssev G. Force. Their daughter Alice Cathrine Force (b. 1906) married my Grandfather Eugene Ernest Eustice.

Do you have any information?

Usefull links: