This interesting and most unusual surname is the Anglicized form of the Old Gaelic "O'Dreada", composed of the Gaelic prefix "O", male descendant of, and an unknown personal name. However, the name may also be a variant of Grady, which is the Anglicized form of the Gaelic "O'Grada", meaning descendant of Grada, a byname meaning "Noble". Thus, in the modern idiom the name may be spelt as Draddy, or Graddy. The surname itself is almost exclusively a County Cork name and is rarely found outside this particular area. The prefix "O" was dropped very early, as only one entry of the surname with an "O" is found in the Cork and Ross Wills of 1629. The name has often been confused with Droody, Drudy, a Connacht name found in Counties Mayo and Roscommon. Early records of the surname are very scant, since so many have been destroyed. William Dradey married Solina Soley on April 5th 1840, in Westminster, London, and Patrick Draddy was born in Cork City, on March 17th 1865. John Draddy was a notable County Cork scribe whose work was done mainly between 1820 and 1840. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Draddy (no known personal name), which was dated circa 1560, in the "Fiant Records", during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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