As none of our usual sources list a surname Delphin we assume that Redmund Delfyne (a fiant of 1551 notes his pardon for the slaying of his brother James), of Eraght Delfyne, was in fact named Dolphin. (Eraght is the anglicised form of oireacht, patrimony, territory). But where was this place? Heading the "pardoned" listed in the above fiant was Richard Bourke, earl of Clanne Rycharde (later Clanrickard), containing the Co Galway baronies of Loughrea, Kiltartan, Clare, Dunkellin, Athenry and Leitrim.
Other place-names in this fiant which might help locate Eraght Delfyne are Dune guarye, Maghareanalltay, Eraght mec Cuag, and the Digane. We have not traced three of these, but is the first Dungory in the Co Galway parish of Kilvarradoorus? This surname of Norse origin came to Connaught from England at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion. They settled in Clanrickard in Co Galway where they became completely hibernicised, with a chief of the name as in leading Irish septs. The name, variously spelled Dolfin, Dolfine, Dolfyne, Dolphin and betimes mcDolphin, was gaelicised Doilfin. Redmond was a very common first-name among the Dolphins.
Annala Rioghachta Eireann/Annals of the Four Masters notes the slaying of Sean Dolifin and his son when assisting Aedh O Conchubhair, King of Connaught, in his battle against the English in 1270. In 1308 John Dolfyn was among the jurors in a case before the sheriff of Dublin, and the Account Roll of the Priory of the Holy Trinity 1337- 1346 noted the death of "Johannes Dolfyn sacerdos et canonicus noster". This man was sub-prior, and noted are the expenses regarding his various journeys - to Killenaule and Ardagh, to Dunmoe, and "for going towards Uriel". He was paid 2s 2 1/2d for making "2 glass windows for the chancel of Glasnevin, with bars, nails, and hooks of iron, for the same". A gift of the Prior of three fowls cost 3 1/2d.
Irish Fiants of the Tudor Sovereigns (1521-1603), one of which is quoted above, lists the pardon of a Kilkenny Dolfin, and four Co Galway Dolphins in 1574.
William oge Dolfine m'Walter Lee was one of three of the name pardoned that same year. Two 1582 fiants relate to the pardon, among others, of Walter Ly Dolphin of Galweyle in Co Galway. (Lee/Ly? liath, grey-haired?) Galwyle is rendered Galbwoly in the final one for the year 1585. This is now Galboly in the Co Galway parish of Kiltullagh.
Among the many places in Co Galway listed in The Transportation to Connaght 1654-58, wherein modest Dolphin holdings (six acres to 109 acres), is Kiltullagh parish. One of the two Dolphin residences shown on Taylor & Skinner's Maps of the Roads of Ireland (1778) was at Corr on the road from Eyrecourt to Portumna; the other at Turoe in the Co Galway parish of Kiltullagh. The Co Galway Book of Survey and Distribution shows Dolphin holdings totalling 307 acres at Kilconickny, Tomafarron, Cahirduffe, Shanvallnamigagh and Gortabrohane, all in the barony of Loughrea, while in the barony of Athenry were 53 acres at Killeene, and 147 at Turoe.
Turoe was still occupied by a dolphin in the Directory of 1814, while in 1876 Oliver and Peter C. Dolphin were at Turoe on 1,171 and 1,389 acres respectively. Fanny Dolphin, Folkstone, Kent, England, possessed two Co Galway acres. William P Burke's 1914 The Irish Priests in Penal Times (1660-1760) names John Dolphin, parish priest of Killowdemor in 1698, and notes the "discovery" of a Franciscan priest named Dolphin in 1701.
A 1715 list of priests names John Dolphin as deceased priest of Killmedan, and a letter of 1732 informs that "The fryers of Portumna live two miles I believe from the Abby of Buoly which they rent from Redmond Dolphin a Convert".
And the Dolphins were still Catholics in 1788 judging by a letter written by Charles O'Connor in 1788 (Letters of Charles O'Connor of Belanagare), when he writes concerning a diplomatic way to break off an engagement between one Owen O'Connor and a Miss Dolphin. Index to Irish Wills contains a single Dolphin entry, the 1809 Will of Patrick Dolphin, Ballymacveamore (now Ballyveagh More), anglicised form of Baile Mhic an Bheatha, MacVeagh's townland (great). The current Phone Book of Northern Ireland contains but a single Dolphin entry: South of the Border there are 35 Dolphin entries, mainly in the 09 area, with a concentration in Co Galway, especially around Ballinasloe. Turoe derives from An Tuar Rua, "the reddish-brown/russet bleaching-field".