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Updated June 9, 2019

Boy name origins & meanings

  • Celtic : Warrior

Boy name variations

How Popular Is The Name Kearney

Family name origins & meanings

  • Irish : Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Catharnaigh ‘descendant of Catharnach’, a byname meaning ‘warlike’ or ‘soldier’, and Ó Cearnaigh, from cearnach ‘victorious’. Both surnames were widely distributed and are now very difficult to disentangle.
  • Many present-day bearers of this name are descended from Tadhg Ó Catharnaigh, killed in battle in 1084. He was nicknamed An Sionnach ‘the Fox’, and for this reason the surname has sometimes been Anglicized as <xref>Fox</xref>. Denis Kearney, born in Oakmont, Ireland, in 1847, was a major U.S. labor movement leader.

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