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CONBOY Family History

This is a very interesting Irish surname, and particularly associated with County Sligo and the west of Ireland. Recorded in the spellings of Conboy and Conaboy, also as Conway, it is a derivation from the original pre 10th century Gaelic O'Conbhuidhe meaning 'the descendant of yellow hound'. Quite why anybody should be called 'yellow hound' is open to conjecture, but almost all Irish surnames were originally the nickname of the chief of the clan. To show that this is far from unusual and not uncomplimentary, the famous name 'Kennedy' for instance, translates as 'ugly head', a description far removed from the image cultivated by some American nameholders.