Kearney

Boy name variations

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.