Brian Mitchell has compiled concise but informative histories of the principle surnames that are most closely associated, through numerical strength or uniqueness, with North West Ireland. Drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources, the author has produced 324 single-page histories of surnames that either originated in or became established in North West Ireland. Owing to spelling variations, these histories apply to an additional 57 common surnames for the region (e.g., variant spellings of Doherty include Daugherty, Docherty, Dockerty, Dogerty, Dogherty, Dorrety, Dougherty, O'Doagharty, O'Dochartaigh, O'Doghartye, O'Dogherty, and O'Doherty); as a matter of fact, Mr. Mitchell estimates that these histories document the surname origins of over 80% of people with roots in North West Ireland.
