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There is a general concensus that the names Jeremiah and Darby are, despite no apparent pronunciation similarity, interchangeable, A lot of internet sites State this but quote no reliable sources. The following sources fail to explain the transition between the two names. There are some few family historians on-line who claim ancestors who have been found using each of these two names at different times, equally there are individuals having both names shown, e.g. Jeremiah Darby MURPHY, and some with the firstname Jeremiah and the surname Darby.

Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames by Rev. Patrick Woulfe, 1923. - DIARMAID, genitive -ada, Dermod, Dermot, (Darby; Jeremiah, Jarmy, Jerry; Jerome); Old Irish - Diarmait, comp. of di, without, and airmit, injunction, hence a freeman; an ancient and very common name, especially among the MacCarthys, MacDermotts, O'Briens, and O'Connors; still found in every part of Ireland, but generally anglicised Jeremiah. Eleven saints of the name are mentioned in the Martyrology of Donegal. Latin - Diermitius, Dermitius.

David Pierce, Irish Writing in the Twentieth Century: A Reader. Cork University Press. ISBN 1859182585, page 8. 2000:"The man whom you call Diarmaid when you speak Irish, a low, pernicious, un-Irish, detestable custom, begot by slavery, and propagated by cringing, and fostered by flunkeyism, forces you to call Jeremiah when you speak English, or as a concession, Darby".

Wikipedia 2013:Jeremiah is a male given name meaning "Yhwh will raise", and having its origin in ancient Hebrew. Jeremy and Jerry are English-language names derived from it, and Jeremias is a form that it takes in some Romance languages.

Behind the Name (behindthename.com) 2013 (this site quotes a huge number of academic sources on-line and does not connect the two names):
Darby (pronunced DAHR-bee. Meaning & History: from an English surname, which was derived from the name of the town of Derby, meaning "deer town" in Old Norse.

Diarmaid (pronounced: DEER-mid). Meaning & History - Perhaps means "without envy" in Irish. In Irish mythology this was the name of a warrior who became the lover of Gráinne. It was also the name of several ancient Irish kings. Related Names; Dermot, Diarmait, Diarmuid (Irish), Diarmait, Diarmuid (Irish Mythology), Diminututive: Derry (Irish), Other Languages: Dermid, Diarmad (Scottish).

Jeremiah (pronounced: jer-ə-MIE-ə (English). Meaning & History - From the Hebrew name יִרְמְיָהוּ(Yirmiyahu) which meant "YAHWEH has uplifted". This is the name of one of the major prophets of the Old Testament, the author of the Book of Jeremiah and (supposedly) the Book of Lamentations. He lived to see the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in the 6th century BC. In England, though the vernacular form Jeremy had been occasionally used since the 13th century, the form Jeremiah was not common until after the Protestant Reformation. Related Names - Jeremy (English), Jeremy (Biblical). Diminutives: Jere, Jerry (English) Other Languages: Ieremias (Biblical Greek), Yirmiyahu (Biblical Hebrew), Hieremias (Biblical Latin), Jeremias, Jorma, Jarkko, Jarmo, Jere (Finnish), Jérémie (French), Jeremias (German), Jeremias (Portuguese), Jeremías (Spanish).
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E-mail from Valerie Ackroyd 28Feb2013

I wonder if you could help me, as your name was given on the County Leix Surname Registry re the Dooleys. I have a Jeremiah Dooley married to a Mary Behan in my family tree. Their son, John Dooley married Rose Gallagher in Montreal, Quebec in 1872; Jeremiah and Mary's names are in the marriage registry. They are from Queen's County, Ireland. Jeremiah is alive in 1872, Mary is dead. I did some research and came across a marriage between a Mary Behan and a Darby Dooley (?) in 1836 in Mountrath which would be about right for their being John's parents (John was born around 1840 in Ireland.)

Do any of these names ring a bell?

Yours sincerely, Valerie Ackroyd, Arizona.