Is the surname Faherty and Flaherty the same surname?

phonejacker

or are they to different surnames, cause i checked a few family name history books and theres plenty of info on Flaherty surname but nothing on Faherty

samai

They are different I think, they both come from different Irish names. Faherty comes from Ó Fathartaigh where as Flaherty comes from Ó Flatharta, and I think that comes from an older spelling Ó Flaitheartaigh, so the names are very similar, they may have had close ties or something, but they both have different Irish original forms so it's safe to say they branched off if they ever were connected.

dubhthach

Seperate surnames see the below from Woulfe's 1923 book.

Ó FLAITHBHEARTAIGH—I—O Flagherty, O'Flaherty, Flagherty, Flaherty, Flaverty; 'descendant of Flaithbheartach' (bright ruler); the name of a Connacht family who were originally chiefs of Muinntear Mhurchadha, now anglicised Muntermorroghoe, a district on the east side of Lough Corrib, in the barony of Clare, Co. Galway, but on being expelled from there by the English, in the 13th century, settled on the other side of Lough Corrib, where they obtained extensive possessions in the barony of Moycullen, and were styled lords of Iar-Connacht. There is also a family of the name, but of an entirely different stock, in Thomond. In Ulster, owing to the aspiration of the initial f, the name has been changed to Ó Laithbheartaigh, which see.

Ó LAITHBHEARTAIGH—I—O Laffertie, O Laghertie, O Laherty, O'Lafferty, O'Laverty, Lafferty, Laverty, Laherty; 'descendant of Flaithbheartach'; a variant of Ó Flaithbheartaigh, owing to the aspiration of the initial f; the name of a distinguished family of the Cinel Eoghain in Ulster, where it is still common, especially in Tyrone, Derry, Antrim and Donegal.

Ó FATHARTAIGH—I—O Faherty, Faherty, (Flaherty); written Ó Faghartaigh by MacFirbis, and Ó Foghartaigh by the Four Masters; descendant of 'Fathartach' or 'Faghartach,' or 'Foghartach' (all variants of the same name); the name of an old Galway family who were formerly chiefs of Dealbhna Cuile Fabhair, on the east side of Lough Corrib. It is still common in Co. Galway, but sometimes disguised under the anglicised form of Flaherty; while by the aspiration of the initial f, it has become changed in Munster to Ó hAthartaigh, which see.

Ó hATHARTAIGH—I—O Haherty, O Harty, Harty; 'descendant of Fathartach' (same as Faghartach); a variant of Ó Fathartaigh (which see), owing to the aspiration of the initial f; shortened in the spoken language to Ó hÁrtaigh and Ó hÁrta; the name, according to Mageoghegan, of an Offaly family. At the end of the 16th century, it was common in Tipperary, Limerick, Cork and Kerry.

Ag rince Bo

The above reply is a good one and probably doesn't need any more added to it....but i'm gunna anyway

With old surnames, especially the type above, tend to have many variants due to many factors, one of those factors would be -

- the introduction of writing, and although the name was being used at the time, and writing was around at the time. The name didn't have a single way of writing it. [from village to village and area to area etc.

- the person whose name it is may not have a grasp of the written language (cannot read or write well, or at all.)

- the person writing the name down has written it down wrong [Due to, writing the name down phonetically, accent, not understanding how the name should be spelt because the name when pronounced is different to the spelling etc] .

- in Census or Immigration circumstances the person recording the surnames isn't really concerned how they are spelt.

- over time, smudged paperwork gets recorded wrongly, especially from ship passenger lists and parish birth and death, marriage lists and census lists etc.
Years ago these were all taken down by hand using a Quill as a pen and liable to smudge, all for a variety of reasons.

- interpreted from a different language or dialect. (pronunciation)

That's just a few that I thought of off the tip of my head, and as you can see there are many reasons why the same name may become spelt differently.

If searching for a relative or anything else, try using all the spelling variants you can think of.