The Irish surname McDonough is an anglicized form of the Gaelic name Mac Donnchadha, patronymic from the personal name Donnchadh, a personal name composed of the elements donn ‘brown’, possibly ‘chieftain’ + cath ‘battle’. Thomas MacDonough (1783 - 1825) was a famous early American naval officer, whilst among the first famine immigrants was Andrew McDonough, aged 30 yrs., a passenger on the Coffin Ship "Jane", of Liverpool, bound for New York in May 1846. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of MacDonnagh of Sligo, which was dated 1659, in Petty's, "Census of Ireland."