Family name origins & meanings
- Possibly of French origin : a habitational name, with the preposition d(e), for someone from any of several places named Aulnay, for example in Aube, Charente-Maritime, and Marne. The place name is derived from aune ‘alder’. Compare Donais.
- Perhaps an altered spelling of Hungarian Dolnay or Dolnai, variants of Dolinai, a habitational name for someone from any of various places called Dolina, from Slavic dolina ‘valley’; examples are found in Tolna and Vas counties, as well as in Trencsény, Nyitra, and other regions now in Slovakia.