O'Doherty

name

"o-doherty" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“O'Doherty” is an uncommon English word, ranked #96,303 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.

#96,303
frequency rank, English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A surname from Irish.

Key facts for O'Doherty
PropertyValue
HeadwordO'Doherty
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters9
Frequency rank#96,303
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “O'Doherty” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). O'Doherty lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for O'Doherty is 9 letters long, classified as a proper noun. Corpus data places it at rank #96,303 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A surname from Irish.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for O'Doherty, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: Anglicized form of Irish Ó Dochartaigh (“descendant of Dochartach”). Compare Doherty. The correct English form is O'Doherty, spelled O-'-D-O-H-E-R-T-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A surname from Irish.

Etymology

Anglicized form of Irish Ó Dochartaigh (“descendant of Dochartach”). Compare Doherty.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "O'Doherty"?
"O'Doherty" is spelled O-'-D-O-H-E-R-T-Y.
What does "O'Doherty" mean?
As a proper noun, "O'Doherty" means: A surname from Irish.
What is the origin of the word "O'Doherty"?
Anglicized form of Irish Ó Dochartaigh (“descendant of Dochartach”). Compare Doherty. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “O'Doherty”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is O-'-D-O-H-E-R-T-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list