surnames.ie

Irish surname · 87th most common in 1911

O'Dwyer

Also spelt Dwyer

O'Dwyer and Dwyer come from the Irish Ó Duibhir (older Ó Dubhuidhir), 'descendant of Dubhodhar', meaning 'dark Odhar'. The family, said to be of Leinster origin, were lords of Kilnamanagh in west Tipperary until the Cromwellian confiscations, and many later served in continental armies.

Irish Ó Dubhuidhir · Ó DuibhirIrish Ó DuibhidhirIrish Mac Dubhuidhir
1901 census
7,800
#84 · 18 per 10,000
1911 census
7,643
#87 · 17 per 10,000
1926 census
7,465
#66 · 25 per 10,000
Most numerous
Tipperary
Highest share: Tipperary

Language & meaning

Meaning & Irish forms

Gaelic Gaelic Irish: the O'Dwyers of Kilnamanagh in Tipperary, a family Woulfe describes as of Leinster origin, with a Donegal family of the name whose link to them is uncertain.[1][2]

Ó Dubhuidhir
Modern spelling: Ó Duibhir
“descendant of Dubhodhar”[1][3][4]
Woulfe's headword, also written Ó Duibhidhir. The composer Robert O'Dwyer used the modern spelling Ó Duibhir.
Ó Duibhidhir
“descendant of Dubhodhar”[3]
A variant spelling that Woulfe cross-refers to Ó Dubhuidhir. It lies behind forms such as Diver, Dyer, Deere and Dever.
Mac Dubhuidhir
“son of Dubhodhar”[5]
A separate, rarer surname, anglicised MacDwyer; Woulfe says it was usually but less correctly written Mac Duibhidhir.

The name is built on the personal name Dubhodhar, usually explained as “dark or black Odhar”. Woulfe explains the name as dubh, 'black', joined to the personal name Odhar. Wikipedia instead glosses the surname as 'dark coloured', after the hair of the founder, Dubhuir mac Spealáin.[1][2]

Pronunciation

O'Dwyer: oh-DWY-er

Place

Where the O'Dwyers lived

How common the name was in each county, as a share of the population, in the three surviving full censuses of Ireland. Use the buttons to compare years.

Donegal: 0.5 per 10,000 (9 people) Waterford: 20.5 per 10,000 (169 people) Dublin: 13 per 10,000 (624 people) Kilkenny: 46.1 per 10,000 (346 people) Carlow: 39.4 per 10,000 (143 people) Limerick: 62.3 per 10,000 (893 people) Louth: 3.5 per 10,000 (22 people) Tipperary: 188.8 per 10,000 (2,882 people) Roscommon: 12.6 per 10,000 (118 people) Meath: 9.5 per 10,000 (62 people) Wicklow: 10.2 per 10,000 (62 people) Cavan: 0.7 per 10,000 (6 people) Cork: 20.3 per 10,000 (798 people) Clare: 30.3 per 10,000 (317 people) Galway: 7.1 per 10,000 (130 people) Mayo: 3.5 per 10,000 (68 people) Sligo: 20.3 per 10,000 (161 people) Leitrim: 6.2 per 10,000 (39 people) Offaly: 6.1 per 10,000 (35 people) Laois: 8.2 per 10,000 (45 people) Kildare: 13.3 per 10,000 (89 people) Kerry: 18.1 per 10,000 (289 people) Monaghan: 1.3 per 10,000 (9 people) Wexford: 25.1 per 10,000 (257 people) Longford: 2.5 per 10,000 (11 people) Westmeath: 2 per 10,000 (12 people) Tyrone: 0.1 per 10,000 (2 people) Antrim: 0.3 per 10,000 (16 people) Armagh: 0.5 per 10,000 (6 people) Fermanagh: 0 per 10,000 (0 people) Londonderry: 0.4 per 10,000 (6 people) Down: 0.6 per 10,000 (17 people)
fewerup to 197 per 10,000

Share of each county's census population. 1926 covers the 26 counties of the Irish Free State only.

Highest concentration · 1911

Tipperary

189 per 10,000

2,882 O'Dwyers · 10.85× the national share

Highest share, 1911

  1. Tipperary 189
  2. Limerick 62
  3. Kilkenny 46
  4. Carlow 39
  5. Clare 30
  6. Wexford 25
  7. Waterford 21
  8. Cork 20

Per 10,000 residents. A concentration index above 1 means the name was commoner there than nationally.

County figures as a table
County190119111926Per 10k 1901Per 10k 1911Per 10k 1926
Antrim2216—10—
Armagh56—01—
Carlow157143116423934
Cavan068011
Clare314317239283025
Cork765798800192022
Donegal3910011
Down3117—11—
Dublin520624767121315
Fermanagh10—00—
Galway14013086775
Kerry323289259201817
Kildare778977131313
Kilkenny341346331454647
Laois62457111814
Leitrim323934566
Limerick956893874656263
Londonderry76—10—
Longford17112431
Louth132237246
Mayo686852343
Meath60627091011
Monaghan11914212
Offaly463536867
Roscommon112118103111312
Sligo144161193182027
Tipperary3,0202,8822,763189189197
Tyrone22—00—
Waterford215169150252119
Westmeath101215223
Wexford261257285252530
Wicklow656273111013

Local strongholds in 1911

District Electoral Divisions (300+ residents) where O'Dwyers made up the largest share of the population. In Clogher, Co. Tipperary, about one resident in 7 was a O'Dwyer.

DEDCountyO'DwyersShare
ClogherTipperary66 14.5%
Clonoulty WestTipperary153 13.5%
BallygriffinTipperary39 12.5%
CaherellyLimerick40 11.1%
RathlyninTipperary48 10.8%
DonohillTipperary97 9.4%
BallysheehanTipperary55 9.0%
MoyaliffTipperary73 8.2%

Origins

Septs & territories

Many Irish surnames were adopted independently by unrelated families. These are the distinct O'Dwyer lineages described in the sources.

A surname can point you towards a place. On its own, it cannot establish a pedigree.

Ó Duibhir of Kilnamanagh

Coill na Manach, now the baronies of Kilnamanagh Upper and Lower · Tipperary

Woulfe makes the O'Dwyers a family of Leinster origin who became chiefs of Coill na manach in west Tipperary. Wikipedia traces their documented line to the Laigin through Cairbre Cluichechair, founder of the Dál Cairbre Aradh in Munster. They held the district, with castles such as Dundrum, Ballagh and Clonyharp, until the Cromwellian confiscations.[1][2][6]

Ó Duibhidhir of Donegal

Co. Donegal · Donegal

Woulfe notes that Ó Duibhidhir was also a Donegal surname. He could not say whether the Donegal family was a branch of the Tipperary O'Dwyers.[1]

The name over time

History

Lords of Kilnamanagh

Kilnamanagh, from Coill na manach, now gives its name to two baronies in west Tipperary, Kilnamanagh Upper around Borrisoleigh and Kilnamanagh Lower around Dundrum. Woulfe calls the O'Dwyers chiefs of the district and says they came originally from Leinster. Burke places the sept at Muintir-Duibhidhir within the barony. Wikipedia notes that the family emerged as lords of Kilnamanagh in the High and Late Middle Ages but is not prominent in the Annals of the Four Masters until the 15th century. Burke cites the Four Masters for a Thomas O'Dwyer of Ormond killed by the O'Kennedys in 1473.[7][6][1][8][2]

A Gaelic lordship beside the Butlers

The O'Dwyers were one of a group of Gaelic families in the Tipperary area, with the O'Carrolls of Éile, the O'Kennedys of Ormond and the O'Mulryans of Owney, who kept their independence after the arrival of the Anglo-Normans. Their strongest neighbours were the Butler earls of Ormond. To defend their lands they built a string of castles, among them Dundrum, Ballagh, Clonyharp, Drumbane, Killenure and Moyaliffe. All are now ruined or altered, and every one was confiscated in the Cromwellian period.[2]

1641 and the Cromwellian war

In 1641 Philip and Anthony O'Dwyer seized the Rock of Cashel during the rising. Philip of Kilnamanagh, the last chief, died in 1648. His kinsman Edmund O'Dwyer then led the Confederate forces in Tipperary and Waterford against Cromwell, who took the O'Dwyer strongholds of Dundrum and Ballagh in March 1650. Edmund carried on a guerrilla war until he surrendered at Cahir Castle in March 1652, and Philip's brother Donogh was executed at Cashel later that year. Woulfe notes that a Philip and an Owen O'Dwyer were exempted from pardon for life and estate under the 1652 Act.[2][9][1]

O'Dwyers abroad

After the surrender Edmund O'Dwyer took his brigade to the Continent, and he was killed at the storming of Arras in 1654. Many others followed him into foreign service. Woulfe says that members of the family reached high rank in the armies of France, Austria and Russia, and Wikipedia names General Count John O'Dwyer, who commanded at Belgrade for the Habsburgs, and an O'Dwyer admiral in the Russian navy. Burke records an Anthony O'Dwyer of Cádiz, son of a captain of grenadiers in Spain's Irish Brigade, who descended from Anthony O'Dwyer, chief of Kilnamanagh in 1567.[9][1][2][8]

Dwyers of later centuries

The name stayed common across the south of Ireland. Not every Dwyer descends from Kilnamanagh: Michael Dwyer, the United Irish leader of 1798, came from the Glen of Imaal in Wicklow, where he held out in the mountains until 1803 before being sent to New South Wales. In 1933 Sir Michael O'Dwyer, a Tipperary man and former Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, published a history of the sept, The O'Dwyers of Kilnamanagh. In the 20th century the Mayo-born brothers William and Paul O'Dwyer became leading figures in New York politics.[1][10][11][12][13]

Places linked to the name

  • Kilnamanagh Upper (Cill na Manach Uachtarach), Co. Tipperary — Northern half of the old O'Dwyer territory, centred on Borrisoleigh.[7][1]
  • Kilnamanagh Lower (Cill na Manach Íochtarach), Co. Tipperary — Southern half of the O'Dwyer territory, centred on Dundrum.[6][1]
  • Dundrum (Dún Droma), Co. Tipperary — Site of an O'Dwyer castle, one of the two strongholds Cromwell captured in March 1650.[9][2]
  • Rock of Cashel, Co. Tipperary — Seized by Philip and Anthony O'Dwyer during the 1641 rising.[2]
  • Glen of Imaal (Gleann Uí Mháil), Co. Wicklow — Native glen of the 1798 leader Michael Dwyer and base of his guerrilla campaign.[10]

Everyday lives

The O'Dwyers in the census

Who the O'Dwyers were in the 1901 and 1911 censuses (and 1926 where recorded), set against everyone in Ireland in the same census.

O'Dwyers All of Ireland Ireland's figure marked on the O'Dwyer bar

Religion, 1911

Catholic +25.4 points vs Ireland
O'Dwyers 99.0%
All of Ireland 73.6%
Church of Ireland −12.5 points vs Ireland
O'Dwyers 0.7%
All of Ireland 13.2%
Presbyterian −10.0 points vs Ireland
O'Dwyers 0.1%
All of Ireland 10.1%
Methodist & other −2.9 points vs Ireland
O'Dwyers 0.2%
All of Ireland 3.1%

Irish language

Spoke Irish, 1901 −2.9 points vs Ireland
O'Dwyers 12.4%
All of Ireland 15.3%
Spoke Irish, 1911 −1.2 points vs Ireland
O'Dwyers 12.3%
All of Ireland 13.5%
Spoke Irish, 1926 · 26 counties −1.9 points vs Ireland
O'Dwyers 11.6%
All of Ireland 13.5%

13 O'Dwyers spoke Irish only in 1901.

Reading & writing

Could read and write, 1901 · aged 15+ +5.1 points vs Ireland
O'Dwyers 85.5%
All of Ireland 80.4%
Could read and write, 1911 · aged 15+ +3.7 points vs Ireland
O'Dwyers 89.5%
All of Ireland 85.8%

Family life, 1911

Household size · 1,599 households about the same as Ireland
O'Dwyers 4.78
All of Ireland 4.83
Children born per mother · women 45–59 higher than Ireland
O'Dwyers 6.76
All of Ireland 6.46
Children still living +0.6 points vs Ireland
O'Dwyers 80.4%
All of Ireland 79.8%

Commonest occupations

Adults aged 15+, 1901 and 1911 combined.

Farmer1,479
Farmer's son764
Farmer's daughter482
Agricultural labourer347
Farm servant275
General labourer240
Labourer169
Farm labourer167
House keeper165
Domestic servant149

Born outside Ireland

0.7% of O'Dwyers in 1911 gave a birthplace outside Ireland.

England28
United States19
Australia & NZ4
Scotland4
Wales1

Median age: 24 in 1901, 27 in 1911.

Given names

First names among the O'Dwyers

Men and boys

  1. John1,806
  2. Patrick1,289
  3. Michael1,163
  4. Thomas1,000
  5. James932
  6. William717
  7. Denis301
  8. Daniel270
  9. Timothy260
  10. Edward235

Women and girls

  1. Mary2,113
  2. Bridget955
  3. Margaret866
  4. Ellen619
  5. Catherine486
  6. Johanna374
  7. Kate355
  8. Annie344
  9. Anne243
  10. Julia174

All three censuses combined. Top five in 1926: John, Patrick, Michael, Thomas, James; Mary, Margaret, Bridget, Ellen, Annie.

Spellings

Spellings

This page combines the spellings below, which census enumerators and families used for the same name.

Spelling190119111926Records
Dwyer6,5165,9654,970Search
O'Dwyer1,2841,6782,495Search

Related forms

  • Dwyer — The form without the O prefix; Woulfe lists it with O'Dwyer as the main English forms.[1][3]
  • O'Dwyre, Dwire — Older spellings, the first used by Edmund O'Dwyer.[1][9]
  • Dyer, Diver, Deere, Dever — Forms of the variant Ó Duibhidhir listed by Woulfe.[3][2]
  • MacDwyer — From the separate surname Mac Dubhuidhir, 'son of Dubhodhar'.[5]

Diaspora

The O'Dwyers abroad

Emigration carried the name worldwide. In the 2010 United States census:

SpellingPeopleUS rank
Dwyer27,2401291st
O'Dwyer1,42719075th

Source: US Census Bureau, 2010 surname file (public domain).

Heraldry

Is there a O'Dwyer coat of arms?

Arms were granted to particular families, not to every O'Dwyer. Burke records arms for the O'Dwyer sept of Kilnamanagh: on silver, a red lion rampant between three ermine spots, with a crest of a hand grasping a sword. He notes the same arms allowed in 1776 to Anthony O'Dwyer of Cádiz, with the motto 'Virtus sola nobilitas' ('Virtue alone is nobility'). Wikipedia records that these arms and motto were granted again in 1937 to Sir Michael O'Dwyer.[8][11]

Websites selling a single “O'Dwyer family crest” are selling a design, not an inheritance. Arms in Ireland belonged to individuals and their heirs, and the Chief Herald of Ireland still grants arms that way today.

People

Notable people named O'Dwyer

  • Edmund O'Dwyer (died 1654)
    Confederate commander who led Munster resistance to Cromwell; killed at the storming of Arras in 1654.
  • Michael Dwyer (1772–1825)
    United Irish captain of 1798 who held out in the Wicklow Mountains until 1803.
  • Joseph O'Dwyer (1841–1898)
    American physician often called the father of laryngeal intubation for croup.
  • Edward Thomas O'Dwyer (1842–1917)
    Tipperary-born Catholic Bishop of Limerick from 1886 until his death.
  • Robert O'Dwyer (1862–1949)
    Bristol-born composer of Eithne (1909), one of the first operas written in the Irish language.
  • Sir Michael O'Dwyer (1864–1940)
    Tipperary-born Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab at the time of the 1919 Amritsar massacre.
  • William O'Dwyer (1890–1964)
    Irish-American Democrat, Mayor of New York City from 1946 to 1950.
  • Paul O'Dwyer (1907–1998)
    Irish-born civil rights lawyer and President of the New York City Council.
  • Mick O'Dwyer (1936–2025)
    Kerry footballer who managed the county from 1974 to 1989, its most successful manager.
  • Kelly O'Dwyer (born 1977)
    Australian Liberal politician and minister, member for Higgins in the House of Representatives from 2009 to 2019.

Questions

Questions about the O'Dwyer name

Is O'Dwyer an Irish surname?

Yes. O'Dwyer and Dwyer are English forms of the Gaelic Ó Dubhuidhir, now written Ó Duibhir. The family were lords of Kilnamanagh in west Tipperary, and Woulfe describes them as of Leinster origin. He also found the surname in Donegal but could not tell whether that family was related.[1][2]

What is O'Dwyer in Irish?

The modern Irish form is Ó Duibhir; Woulfe's older spellings are Ó Dubhuidhir and Ó Duibhidhir. The name means 'descendant of Dubhodhar', which Woulfe explains as 'dark Odhar'. The composer Robert O'Dwyer, for example, is given in Irish as Riobárd Ó Duibhir. The rarer surname Mac Dubhuidhir, 'son of Dubhodhar', gives MacDwyer.[1][3][4][5]

Are Dwyer and O'Dwyer the same name?

Yes. Both come from Ó Duibhir, and Woulfe lists them side by side as English forms of the one Irish surname. The difference is only whether the O prefix was kept, so either spelling may turn up for the same family.[1][3]

Where does the O'Dwyer name come from?

From Kilnamanagh, Coill na manach, in west Tipperary, today the two baronies of Kilnamanagh Upper and Kilnamanagh Lower. The O'Dwyers held castles there such as Dundrum and Ballagh until the Cromwellian confiscations, after which some were moved to Co. Clare and others went abroad.[1][2][7][6]

Is there an O'Dwyer family crest or coat of arms?

Arms belong to particular families. Burke records arms for the O'Dwyers of Kilnamanagh, a red lion between three ermine spots with a hand and sword as crest, and the motto 'Virtus sola nobilitas' for a branch in Cádiz. Wikipedia notes that the same arms were granted in 1937 to Sir Michael O'Dwyer.[8][11]

What is the O'Dwyer motto?

The motto recorded for O'Dwyer arms is 'Virtus sola nobilitas', 'Virtue alone is nobility'. Burke gives it for the O'Dwyers of Cádiz, descendants of a Kilnamanagh chief, and it was used again in the 1937 grant to Sir Michael O'Dwyer. It belongs to those arms rather than to everyone of the name.[8][11]

Where in Ireland is the O'Dwyer surname most common?

In the 1911 census the largest numbers of O'Dwyers lived in Tipperary (2,882), Limerick (893), Cork (798). Relative to population, the name was most concentrated in Tipperary (189 per 10,000), Limerick (62 per 10,000), Kilkenny (46 per 10,000).

How common was the O'Dwyer surname in Ireland?

7,643 people were recorded as Dwyer or O'Dwyer in the 1911 census of Ireland, making it the 87th most common surname. That is roughly 0.2% of the population, or 1 person in 575.

Looking for a O'Dwyer ancestor?

Search every O'Dwyer household in the 1901, 1911 and 1926 censuses, with free images of the original forms.

Search records on irishcensus.com

Evidence

Sources

  1. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Dubhuidhir, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  2. Wikipedia, Clan O'Dwyer (2026)
  3. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Duibhidhir, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  4. Wikipedia, Robert O'Dwyer (2026)
  5. Patrick Woulfe, Mac Dubhuidhir, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  6. Wikipedia, Kilnamanagh Lower (2026)
  7. Wikipedia, Kilnamanagh Upper (2026)
  8. Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884). Entries 'O'Dwyer (a Sept seated at Muintir-Duibhidhir)', 'O'Dwyer (Cadiz, in Spain)' and 'O'Dwyer (Clonyhorpa, co. Tipperary)'.
  9. Wikipedia, Edmund O'Dwyer (2026)
  10. Wikipedia, Michael Dwyer (2026)
  11. Wikipedia, Michael O'Dwyer (2026)
  12. Wikipedia, William O'Dwyer (2026)
  13. Wikipedia, Paul O'Dwyer (2026)
  14. Census of Ireland 1901 and 1911, and Census of Population 1926, National Archives of Ireland. Counts compiled by surnames.ie from the irishcensus.com transcription (dataset 20260831130351). 1926 data © National Archives of Ireland, CC BY 4.0.
  15. Irish forms cross-checked against Gaois surname data (Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, DCU).

How we compile these figures: methodology.