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Duffy / O´Duffy / McFie
El apellido O'DUFFY -y DUFFY- está muy extendido en Irlanda, ocupando el primer lugar en el número de familias que lo llevan en el Co.Monaghan y en el norte de la provincia de Connacht. Por causa de las variantes de su pronunciación en irlandés -O'Dubhthaigh- en el condado de Donegal se ha transformado en Duhig, Doohig, Doohey y Dowy. En la actualidad, ocupa el lugar n° 45 entre los apellidos más frecuentes de Irlanda (ver lista). Entre los irlandeses llegados al Río de la Plata hasta 1880 figuran 38 DUFFY entrados entre los años de 1822 y 1880.
We are told by Dr. George F. Black in The Surnames of Scotland that the name Macfie is 'one of the oldest and most interesting personal names we possess'. Dr. Gillies adds in Place-names of Argyllshire that 'Its plan and concept go far away beyond those of even our old names'. The name Macfie derives from its older version MacDuffie which is itself derived from the Gaelic "MacDubhSithe" meaning 'Son of the Dark Fairy or Elf'. This stems from the tradition that the Macfies had been in touch with the fairy folk that lived under the hills and in many countries the remnants of the original bearers of the name have been conferred with mystic powers.
Tradition asserts that the Macfies/MacDuffies are descended from a Selkie or seal woman who cast off her fur to become a beautiful woman and marrying the first Macfie who hid her fur so that she could not return to the sea. Even in a country so steeped in mystery and mysticism as Scotland, you would be very hard pressed indeed to find a clan whose roots are so dark and mysterious.
The ancestral home of the Macfies is the island of Colonsay, a small island about 2 miles by 10 miles among the Inner Hebrides.
The Macfies were the hereditary keepers of the records of the Isles. There is a tradition that one of the chiefs of Colonsay fought and overcame Sire Gile de Argentine at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, probably in support of the Lord of the Isles. The McDonald annalist records that a MacDuffie of Colonsay was in the forces of Donald Balloch when he raised a rebellion on behalf of the Lord of the Isles in 1431.
The name of the MacDuffie chief in 1531 was Murroch and in 1609 Donald Macfie of Colonsay was one of the twelve chiefs and gentlemen who met the Bishop of the Isles at Iona where, with their consent, the celebrated 'Stautes of Icolmkill' were enacted.
The name Duffy in Ireland is derived from the native Gaelic O'Dubhthaigh Septs that were based in Counties Monaghan, Donegal and Roscommon. The name is now very numerous in each of the Provinces with the exception of Munster where the variant Duhig or Doohig is used.
Branches: Dreghorn MacFies.
Motto: Pro Rege - "For the King".
Badge: A lion rampant.
Spelling variations: Duffie, Duffy, Duff, MacGuffie, Machaffie, MacFie, MacFee, MacDuffie, MacPhee, MacGuffie, MacCuffie, MacPhie, Maffie, Maffey and many more.