Frequency: (1262)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. English: variant of Deary, or alternatively a nickname for a merchant or tradesman, from Anglo-French darree ‘pennyworth’, from Old French denree.
2. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Doiridh, the name of an eccesiastical family from Donegal, meaning ‘descendant of Doireadh’. Derry is often confused with Deery.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
