 Alan Orr Anderson suggested that the name Donncoirce may be a byname, perhaps meaning "Brown Oats".Donncoirce is the last king of Dál Riata so called by surviving Irish annals.Dauvit Broun's reconstruction of the late Dál Riata kings places the beginning of Donncoirce's reign at the death of Fergus mac Echdach in 781 or 782.