Ó Daimhín or Ní Dhaimhín is one of several surnames derived from the Irish Gaelic that are now rendered in English as Devine. The root of this name is "''damh''", which according to Dineen means an "ox or a Stag". It is also used figuratively as "hero". Confusingly, scholars in the 19th and early 20th centuries sometimes thought it was derived from "''dámh''", meaning a bard or poet but this is no longer accepted. Older Irish forms of the name were written as ''Ua Daimhín'' and ''Ua Daimhín''. According to

Edward MacLysaght Edgeworth Lysaght, later Edward Anthony Edgeworth Lysaght, and from 1920 Edward MacLysaght ( ga, Éamonn Mac Giolla Iasachta; 6 November 1887 – 4 March 1986) was a genealogist of twentieth century Ireland. His numerous books on Irish surnames ...

,MacLysaght, Edward (1972). ''Irish Families (Their Names, Arms and Origins)'', Allen Figgis Press, Dublin, Ireland.

The name Devine is chiefly found to-day in the counties of
Tyrone Tyrone may refer to: * Kingdom of Tyrone or Tír Eoghain, a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland * County Tyrone, a county in Northern Ireland * Earl of Tyrone, a title in the Peerage of Ireland * Tyrone (name), a male given name Places Canada * Tyrone, ...
and Londonderry but is now rare in
Fermanagh Historically, Fermanagh ( ga, Fir Manach), as opposed to the modern County Fermanagh, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Fermanagh. ''Fir Manach'' originally referred to a distinct kin group of ...
. Up to the fifteenth century the chief of this
sept A sept is a division of a family, especially of a Scottish or Irish family. The term is used in both Scotland and Ireland, where it may be translated as ''sliocht'', meaning "progeny" or "seed", which may indicate the descendants of a person ( ...
was Lord of Tirkennedy in Co. Fermanagh. Though the
etymology Etymology () The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words ...
of the name has been questioned, we may accept the view of so eminent a scholar as O’Donovan that it is in Irish ''Ó Daimhín''.

Other names that may derive from Ó Daimhín or similar-sounding Irish names are: O'Devine, Devane, Davin, Devin, Divin, Divine, Diven, Devan and Dwayne.

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Muinntir Dhuibhín
Information on the name Devine {{DEFAULTSORT:O Daimhin Irish-language surnames Patronymic surnames Surnames of Irish origin

See also

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