doily: [17] In the latter part of the 17th century a certain Mr Doily kept a celebrated draper’s shop in the Strand, London, not too far from where the Aldwych now is (‘The famous Doily is still fresh in every one’s Memory, who raised a Fortune by finding out Materials for such Stuffs as might be at once cheap and genteel’, Spectator 1712). He gave his name first to a sort of light fabric used for summer wear (‘Some Doily Petticoats and Manto’s we have’, John Dryden, Kind Keeper 1678) and then, early in the 18th century, to a variety of ornamental table napkin (‘After dinner we had coarse Doily-napkins, fringed at each end, upon the table to drink with’, Jonathan Swift, Journal to Stella 1711).
1714, short for doily-napkin (1711), from doily "thin, woolen fabric;" supposedly from Doiley, surname of a 17c.-early 18c. dry-goods dealer on London's Strand. Doily earlier meant "genteel, affordable woolens" (1670s), evidently from the same source. The surname is d'Ouilly, from one of several places called Ouilly in Normandy.
