Family name origins & meanings
- Americanized form of Slovenian Černe (see Cerne), Czech Černý (see Cerny), or Slovak (Černej).
- Americanized form of Cserney, a Hungarian habitational name for someone from a place called Cserne, formerly in Trencsény county, now in Slovakia, or Csernye in Veszprém county.
- Possibly also English, a habitational name from North and South Cerney or Cerney Wick, all in Gloucestershire, which are named for the Churn river, on which they stand, + Old English ēa ‘stream’. The river name is of Celtic origin.