Meaning and Origin of: Kennedy

Girl name origins & meanings

  • Irish, Scottish : Chief with helmet

Girl name variations

Kennedi

Boy name origins & meanings

  • Gaelic : Helmeted chief

Boy name variations

Kennady
Kenny
Ken
Canady

Family name origins & meanings

  • Irish and Scottish : Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ceannéidigh ‘descendant of Ceannéidigh’, a personal name derived from ceann ‘head’ + éidigh ‘ugly’.
  • Kennedy ancestral lands are found both in Ireland and in Scotland, where the family’s medieval ancestral seat is sited on the Ayrshire coast, facing the Irish Sea.