The name DOUGHTY with its many different variations is an ancient name, generally assumed to be derived from the Saxon term DOHTIG, which was an epithet applied to a brave warrior. This name was brought to England in the 5th century AD when Roman legions left Great Britain to defend Rome, leaving its shores open to invasion from northwestern Europe. The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes came, bringing the name with them. My research has shown that DOUGHTY is even more common along the east and south east coasts of England, with the Isle of Thanet, Kent being a good example. The island of Thanet has DUGGY Lineages that date back a long time, and this is an area that saw many landings from the Saxon tribes.
There is often confusion with Irish names that are very similar, DAUGHERTY, DOHERTY, DOCHERTY, DOUGHERTY, etc. but all of these stem from an Irish clan led by chiefs called Dochartaig, “the destroyer”. Originally they would have been O’Dochartaig but this name has become in the aforementioned variations. It is believed that Irish emigrants to the United States may have chosen to change their name to the more Protestant variants of DOUGHTY when they arrived in the United States, or they may have been illiterate and immigration officials there spelled their names differently. A Jewish friend once told me that many Jews in the United States are called Ferguson because when asked for their names upon arrival, they answered “ich fergessen.” This may be apocryphal but it is a good story.
If I am a MALE, am I a descendant of the Saxons?
The answer to this is “possibly”! The surnames of “commoners” were, in all probability, introduced into England by the Normans. The locals would have known each other by their trades or appearances, so your fellow townspeople could have spoken of John the Miller, John the Carpenter, John the Little, or John in the Country to differentiate them.
The Normans needed to take stock of their conquered land and that is why the two Domesday books were compiled. They were an inventory of what the Normans could hope to get from the English! They were called “Doomsday” because the English felt that the books meant the end of their world. The second Domesday Book dealt with the fertile farmlands of East Anglia that represented a rich prize for invaders. To aid in this “tax collection”, the names of many ordinary people were recorded, probably for the first time, so that Shire Reeves could tell who had what and how much they could expect to receive from them.
Do not underestimate the malignancy and oppression of the Norman government over the English. The British were just a commodity that was used as slave labor to keep the Normans in wealth and luxury. Any resistance was resolved with execution, force and destruction. A good example of how the Normans ruled is still found in the English terms used for meat. Words like cow, pig, chicken, venison are British. The words for cooked food – beef, pork, venison, poultry are from Norman French. The Normans were only interested in meat when it was served to them. They took no part in their breeding!
How did I get my last name?
The “nickname”, as it is used today, was a Norman invention, a name added to identify people more clearly. If a word was in common use, it might as well have been used for a surname at this time. Some people may have kept the surnames of previous generations, but if they did not have one, the Normans could have given them a “nickname” arbitrarily.
If the word DOUGHTY was being used in general conversation to describe a brave person at this time, it could have been conferred as a last name! I believe that surnames that survive in areas that were not of interest to Normans, or were too troublesome to collect taxes, are the most likely to be authentic pre-Norman names. If people had to choose their last names today, I’m sure many would be like the membership names they use on Internet sites. I shudder to contemplate the possibilities: “John Studmuffin” and “Eric Chickmagnet”, or worse!
Edward DOTY
On August 5, 1620, 101 people set out from Southampton in a 27-meter long ship. The Mayflower was not the only ship they had planned to use, but the Speedwell, which was to accompany her, was not in seaworthy condition, so the passengers of both ships had to make the crossing in one. Some died en route, but six weeks later they landed in Massachusetts at what would become known as Plymouth Rock.
Almost half died the following year, but in 1661, with the help of friendly Native Americans, they were able to reunite for their first successful harvest and it is this event that has become the Thanksgiving celebration that is still observed annually. in the US on the fourth Tuesday in November. There were many well-known characters among these Pilgrim Fathers. Myles Standish, John Carver, William Bradford are household names in America, but there were others on the Mayflower who fell short of fame. One of them was Edward DOTY. Edward was possibly just a servant to the captain of the Mayflower, but he settled for the others.
The pilgrim’s descendants
For many, many years, American researchers have been trying to trace their lineage back to those who made it to the Mayflower. There are Organizations and Societies that have been created for those Americans who can demonstrate a bond with the families of these first settlers.
Edward DOTY’s name posed a problem. Many assumed it was a form of MASS. There are many American families called DOTY. Other versions of the DOUGHTY surname emerged in the US, primarily due to its lazy pronunciation (to English ears). The name DOUGHTY is often pronounced as DOTY, DODY, DOODY, DOOTY even DOTTY, etc. and some of these have become alternate spellings. Only in certain cases is it pronounced as in England: DOWTY, as in the word ‘DOWN’. Even this phonetic spelling could cause confusion! A Scotsman or Canadian could easily pronounce this as ‘DOON’!
Things are further complicated by the fact that the old and alternate spellings for Edward’s last name are DOTTEN or DOTEN. For many years, American DOTYs and others with similar last names have been under the impression that their names were British and still exist in Britain. With the advent of DNA testing, a project has been created to try to test the links between these American DOxxxxTY lines. Some families have managed to prove that they are descendants of Edward Doty and a Rev. Francis Doughty in England. The Internet has allowed contact between American researchers and the rest of the world.
What is the DOTY Puzzle?
When I came across the US DOTY researchers, I hadn’t thought much about it. Suddenly I discovered that there were people who were eagerly trying to find out all they could about the DOUGHTY in the UK to join the lines on both sides of the Atlantic!
He had realized that one of the main sources of information about Edward Doty, which proved a link between him and the English DOUGHTYs, was an outright fake! It had been compiled by Gustave Anjou (1863-1942), a disreputable American “genealogist” who made money telling people what they wanted to hear, at $ 9,000 at a time! It manufactures more than 100 lines. (source – RC Anderson, Volume 19 Issues 1 & 2, 1991 of the Genealogical Journal of the Utah Genealogical Association, PO Box 1144, Utah 84110) A lineage linking Edward Doty to well-known British lines was just what his American customers wanted, so that’s what Anjou provided.
This had greatly complicated things, as false information was included in many publications, and even in some of the primary sources for genealogical research.
What really surprised me was how much DOTY is in America. I had never seen or heard of the name in the UK, and had been researching Doughtys for almost twenty years!
American researchers had records relating to DOTY families in England and were convinced that it was an English name and a common one here.
I decided to check the UK census records for ‘DOTY’. Most of the DOTY references that I had been quoted turned out to be erroneous index transcriptions of other names or unreadable names. One entry was actually for a LYNCH family. it was badly scrawled on the original, but a review of earlier and later censuses showed it to be LYNCH. The genuine results of the census were few. Two unaccompanied children, possibly of non-English parents, a German servant, and an American inventor with a French wife. There are no English DOTYs in the UK!
I did the same with DOTEN. A family of French descent in the Channel Islands!
The 1837 BMD records were also not published. A marriage, the bride’s last name, possibly misspelled!
I had to report that these names apparently DO NOT exist in the UK, or at least not since the start of registration or the proper conduct of the census!
This must have been a huge shock to the families and DOTY researchers in the US! Many were totally convinced that DOTY was an English name. Apparently the many DOTY families there had never been able to verify this before! The availability of the UK Census on the internet had made it possible for one person to do it in hours, which in the past would have required weeks of research.
This leaves the puzzle:
Was Edward DOTY really a MALE?
Around this time, the spelling of surnames was highly varied and there are some early parish records in the UK where the name is given as DOTY. This has led some American researchers to believe that these families were the origin of Edward DOTY. At around the same time, you can also find DOUTTY, DOUTIE, DOUTTIE, DOWTY, and other spelling variants in UK parish registers. These DOTY entries have led to a host of dubious IGI submissions that are at best guesswork and at worst propaganda from some American researchers who are desperately trying to link their lines to the United Kingdom.
Was it from Europe?
The name DOTEN or DOTTEN is found in France and Germany. It is possible that Edward was a “foreigner” hired as a servant. A reference to his stay in London has been found and some American researchers believe this could add weight to this argument.
Recent research by David Alan Stapp (2010) has suggested that nonconformist religious emigrants had left Lincolnshire for the Netherlands in the early 17th century. It could be that the name Doughty became more Dutch in pronunciation, leading to the spelling DOTY or DOTEN. It could be that Edward DOTY descended from an English family that had emigrated before.
Have there ever been genuine DOTY families in England?
My current research shows that this is unlikely. The first DOTY parish records were actually for DOUGHTYs. Even if the name was written DOTY in the first records, later records will show the name as DOUGHTY or other similar variants.
Was Edward DOTY / DOTEN really a DUTTON?
It is possible that Edward was a DUTTON. Again, DOTEN or DOTTEN as a spelling variant of the name DUTTON could have been the case and there may even be English DUTTONs descended from their line. Only DNA research will prove these connections.
The biggest puzzle is: Why are there so many DOTYs in the US? They can’t all be descendants of Edward Doty, right? Or have Americans with similar last names decided to change them in the past to suggest a family tie to the well-known Mayflower Doty? I let the reader decide.
