This interesting and rare name is of Irish origin and is a variant form of the name Delahunty, itself an Anglicized form of the Old Gaelic name O' Dulchaointigh. The Gaelic prefix "o" indicates "male descendant of", plus the byname Dulchaointigh a satirist, plus "Caointeach", plantive. In the modern idiom,the name also appears as Delahunt and Dulanty. Earlier Anglicized forms inlcluded O' Dolleghenty and Dolochanty with Dulochonty, the latter two appearing in the Kings county (i.e., Offaly) Book of Survey and Distribution circa 1670. The name is particularly well recorded in the Hearth Money Rolls of North Tipperary in the late 17th Century and three officers so called, were listed in a regiment of James 11's Irish army in 1689. One, James Dellenty was born in Oldham, Lancashire in 1856. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of O'Dolleghenty or O'Duleghyntie, which was dated circa 1445, in the "Ormond Deeds of Counties Kilkenny and Tipperary", during the reign of King Henry V1, known as "The Fonder of Eton", 1422 - 1485. 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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