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Darragh,formerly MacDarragh- still occasionally found with the prefix is a name belonging to north-east Ulster. In the census of 1659 MacDarragh is found among the twenty most numerous surnames in the barony of Glencarne, Co. Antrim. It does not appear in that document as Oakes, which is recorded by Matheson in 1901 as a fairly widespread synonym of Darragh, MacAdarra and MacDara, particularly in the Dundalk area. . In the Hearth Money Rolls of Tyrone (1664) and Antrim (I 669) the name appears as Dorragh, Dorah etc. The name Darragh is said to be of Scottish origin, having been assumed in the seventeenth century by a branch of the Macllwraiths of Rosshire, who in repelling a raid by the MacLeods against their kinsmen the MacDonalds, used oak-stocks, (dair, gen. darach, is the Irish for oak). Dermitt Darreagh of Callagh, Co Cork, was outlawed as a Jacobite in 1690; other instances of the rare occurrence of the name outside Ulster are a Kerry will (1797), two Dublin wills (1744 and 1785) and one Wicklow (1808). Also in the Hearth Money Rolls of Co. Wicklow (1668). James Darragh was one of the Fenian prisoners transported to Australia who, after many adventures, escaped to New York in 1876.
In its Scottish form, MacDarragh is a sept of clan MacGregor, the royal line of Scotland. Its clan crest is a trio of ships surrounding an oak tree, with an armed man present superiorly. The motto is "Be Watchful".