Recorded as Daily, Dailey, Dayly, Dayley, the original Gaelic O''Dalaigh, the fused French d''Oilly or de Oily, this is a surname of two quite separate origins. The first is Irish and it is reasonable to assume most modern surname holders drive from this source. It means ''The male descendant of Dalach'' deriving from ''dal'' meaning a meeting or assembly. The O'' Dailaigh clan were said to be particularly prominent in Irish history from the 12th to the 18th century, when they featured as poets and bards, writing many of the ancient historical tracts of the period. This academia originated from a college set up in Westmeath by Connacht O'' Dalaigh in the 13th century, which may suggest that students took the O'' Dalaigh name to spread the message. This may also explain why many poets called O''Dalaigh were also registered as the hereditary poets to leading clans of Ireland during this period. The second origin which certainly in Ireland became confused with the local version - is French and probably Huguenot protestant. It is believed to be locational from places in the Calvados region called ''Oilly''. This place name originates from a Romano-Gallic personal name Ollius or Ollium which also became confused with the personal name William, and may well translate as the same. This is ''will'' as in strength of will. Unfortunately the majority of the ancient Irish charters and writings of Ireland were destroyed in 1917 when the IRA blew up the buildings in Dublin containing these irreplaceable tracts. Examples of surviving early recordings taken from surviving church registers include James Dailey who was christened at St Mary''s Whitechapel in the city of London on July 20th 1701, and Samuel Daley of Clones, County Monaghan, Ireland, on June 24th 1757. The first known recording is probably that of Robert de Oilyi which was dated 1086 in the Domesday Book of England, in the reign of William Ist, 1066 -,1087