surnames.ie

Irish surname · 19th most common in 1911

Kennedy

Also spelt O'Kennedy

Kennedy is the English form of Ó Cinnéide, 'descendant of Cinnéidigh', a personal name usually explained as 'helmeted head'. The best-known family were the O'Kennedys, a Dál gCais sept who moved from east Clare into north Tipperary and ruled as lords of Ormond for centuries. Scotland's Kennedys are a separate family.

Irish Ó CinnéideIrish Ó CeinnéididhIrish Ó Ceannéidigh
1901 census
18,103
#19 · 41 per 10,000
1911 census
17,665
#19 · 40 per 10,000
1926 census
13,095
#23 · 44 per 10,000
Most numerous
Tipperary
Highest share: Tipperary

Language & meaning

Meaning & Irish forms

Gaelic Gaelic Irish, chiefly the Dál gCais O'Kennedys of Ormond; the Scottish Kennedys of Carrick are an unrelated family.[1][2]

Ó Cinnéide
“descendant of Cinnéidigh”[1][3]
Woulfe also gives the older spellings Ó Cinnéididh and Ó Cinnéidigh.
Ó Ceinnéididh
“a variant spelling of Ó Cinnéididh”[4]
Listed by Woulfe only as a cross-reference.
Ó Ceannéidigh
“descendant of Ceannéidigh”[2]
An alternative analysis noted by Wikipedia, reading the personal name as ceann, 'head', plus éidigh, 'ugly' or 'fierce'.

The name is built on the personal name Cinnéidigh, usually explained as “helmeted head”. Woulfe's gloss, also given by Wikipedia; Wikipedia records a second explanation as 'ugly-headed' or 'fierce-headed'. The name was borne by Cennétig mac Lorcáin, father of Brian Boru.[1][2][5]

Pronunciation

Kennedy: KEN-uh-dee

Place

Where the Kennedys lived

How common the name was in each county, as a share of the population, in the three surviving full censuses of Ireland. Use the buttons to compare years.

Donegal: 43.2 per 10,000 (728 people) Waterford: 67.3 per 10,000 (554 people) Dublin: 40.3 per 10,000 (1,937 people) Kilkenny: 71.7 per 10,000 (538 people) Carlow: 36.1 per 10,000 (131 people) Limerick: 59.2 per 10,000 (849 people) Louth: 10.3 per 10,000 (65 people) Tipperary: 163.6 per 10,000 (2,497 people) Roscommon: 31.7 per 10,000 (298 people) Meath: 27.9 per 10,000 (182 people) Wicklow: 50.8 per 10,000 (309 people) Cavan: 13.8 per 10,000 (126 people) Cork: 15.4 per 10,000 (605 people) Clare: 33.3 per 10,000 (348 people) Galway: 35.7 per 10,000 (651 people) Mayo: 21.1 per 10,000 (406 people) Sligo: 65.7 per 10,000 (520 people) Leitrim: 16.7 per 10,000 (105 people) Offaly: 61 per 10,000 (347 people) Laois: 39.3 per 10,000 (215 people) Kildare: 36.5 per 10,000 (244 people) Kerry: 61.9 per 10,000 (989 people) Monaghan: 17.3 per 10,000 (124 people) Wexford: 32.1 per 10,000 (329 people) Longford: 30.3 per 10,000 (133 people) Westmeath: 39 per 10,000 (235 people) Tyrone: 13.9 per 10,000 (198 people) Antrim: 42.5 per 10,000 (2,029 people) Armagh: 20 per 10,000 (239 people) Fermanagh: 15.3 per 10,000 (93 people) Londonderry: 45 per 10,000 (629 people) Down: 33.1 per 10,000 (1,012 people)
fewerup to 175 per 10,000

Share of each county's census population. 1926 covers the 26 counties of the Irish Free State only.

Highest concentration · 1911

Tipperary

164 per 10,000

2,497 Kennedys · 4.07× the national share

Highest share, 1911

  1. Tipperary 164
  2. Kilkenny 72
  3. Waterford 67
  4. Sligo 66
  5. Kerry 62
  6. Offaly 61
  7. Limerick 59
  8. Wicklow 51

Per 10,000 residents. A concentration index above 1 means the name was commoner there than nationally.

County figures as a table
County190119111926Per 10k 1901Per 10k 1911Per 10k 1926
Antrim2,0612,029—4543—
Armagh221239—1820—
Carlow158131116423634
Cavan155126123161415
Clare383348347343337
Cork577605619141517
Donegal755728629444341
Down9941,012—3433—
Dublin1,7811,9372,123414042
Fermanagh11493—1815—
Galway799651691423641
Kerry1,030989851626257
Kildare212244229353740
Kilkenny582538471777267
Laois251215186443936
Leitrim11310595161717
Limerick888849868605962
Londonderry698629—4845—
Longford14713392323023
Louth5565498108
Mayo434406380222122
Meath204182191292831
Monaghan121124118161718
Offaly388347335646164
Roscommon281298252283230
Sligo490520504616671
Tipperary2,6502,4972,447166164175
Tyrone189198—1314—
Waterford532554538616769
Westmeath207235191333934
Wexford350329326343234
Wicklow283309324475157

Local strongholds in 1911

District Electoral Divisions (300+ residents) where Kennedys made up the largest share of the population. In Ballynacourty, Co. Kerry, about one resident in 4 was a Kennedy.

DEDCountyKennedysShare
BallynacourtyKerry162 27.2%
KilnarathTipperary68 12.5%
TemplederryTipperary52 8.9%
Lough EaskDonegal38 8.8%
DollaTipperary49 8.7%
LoughatorickGalway29 8.6%
MaasDonegal41 8.1%
RiverstownTipperary38 7.9%

Origins

Septs & territories

Many Irish surnames were adopted independently by unrelated families. These are the distinct Kennedy lineages described in the sources.

A surname can point you towards a place. On its own, it cannot establish a pedigree.

Ó Cinnéide of Ormond

Glenomra (Killokennedy parish), then the baronies of Upper and Lower Ormond · Clare, Tipperary

A branch of the Dál gCais, first seated at Glenomra in east Clare. Driven out by the O'Briens and MacNamaras, they settled in north Tipperary and ranked as lords of Ormond from roughly the 12th to the 16th century. They split into three branches, named Fionn (fair), Donn (brown) and Ruadh (red).[1][3][6]

Ó Cinnéide of Clann Cearnaigh

Clann Cearnaigh in Uí Maine · Galway

A second family of the name that Woulfe places among the Uí Maine of Co. Galway. He gives no further detail.[1]

Kennedy of Carrick (Scotland)

Carrick, Ayrshire

A Lowland Scottish clan whose chiefs became Earls of Cassilis in 1509 and Marquesses of Ailsa in 1831. Wikipedia describes them as unrelated to the Irish Kennedys.[7][2]

The name over time

History

Kin of Brian Boru

The O'Kennedys belonged to the Dál gCais, the Clare dynasty that produced Brian Boru. Their name recalls a Cinnéidigh, but the sources differ on which one. Wikipedia connects it with Cennétig mac Lorcáin, king of the Dál gCais and Brian's father, and says the family descends from his eldest son Donncuan, whose son Mahon first used Ó Cinnéide. Woulfe and Burke instead derive the name from a later Cinnéidigh, son of Donnchuan, and describe Donnchuan as Brian's brother. Either way, the family were close kin of the O'Briens rather than descendants of Brian himself.[3][1][6][5]

From Glenomra to Ormond

The family's first home was Glenomra in east Clare, which Woulfe identifies with the parish of Killokennedy. Pushed out early on by the O'Briens and MacNamaras, they crossed the Shannon into north Tipperary, where they grew far stronger than they had been in Thomond. For roughly four centuries, from the 1100s to the 1500s, they held the lordship of Ormond, covering the baronies of Upper and Lower Ormond. The sept divided into three branches named after hair colour: Fionn (fair), Donn (brown) and Ruadh (red). St Ruadhán of Lorrha was regarded as their particular patron.[1][3]

Rivals of the Butlers

The O'Kennedys' great rivals were the Butlers, the Anglo-Norman earls of Ormond. Treaties between them in 1336 and 1347 did not hold, and the O'Kennedys broke the second by attacking and burning Nenagh. In 1391 they and their allies drove the Butlers out of Nenagh Castle, and the Butlers made Kilkenny Castle their main seat instead. The family's own castles clustered around Nenagh and Lough Derg, among them Dromineer, Lackeen near Lorrha, and Garrykennedy on the eastern shore of the lake. Around 1600 one branch moved north to Co. Antrim.[3][8][9]

The Scottish Kennedys

Scotland has its own Kennedys, a Lowland clan from Carrick in Ayrshire. Their leaders became Lords Kennedy around 1457, Earls of Cassilis in 1509 and Marquesses of Ailsa in 1831, and they built Culzean Castle. Wikipedia's article on the surname states plainly that the Irish and Scottish families are unrelated, though both names come from similar Gaelic personal names. A Kennedy in Ulster could descend from either.[7][2]

Kennedys abroad

The most famous Kennedy emigrant left Ireland in October 1848, during the Great Famine. Patrick Kennedy, from Dunganstown in Co. Wexford, sailed from Liverpool to Boston, where he worked as a cooper. He was the great-grandfather of John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States. Other Kennedys went to Australia, where Edmund Kennedy explored Queensland, and to Portugal, where a branch descends from Captain Daniel Kennedy, who served under the Duke of Wellington.[10][3]

Places linked to the name

  • Killokennedy, Co. Clare — The parish Woulfe identifies with Glenomra, the family's original home before they moved to Ormond.[1][6]
  • Nenagh, Co. Tipperary — The O'Kennedys burned the town in breach of a treaty and drove the Butlers from Nenagh Castle in 1391.[3]
  • Garrykennedy, Co. Tipperary — Lough Derg harbour beside a ruined 15th-century O'Kennedy tower house.[9]
  • Lackeen Castle, Co. Tipperary — Kennedy tower house near Lorrha, now a national monument.[8]
  • Dunganstown, Co. Wexford — Birthplace of Patrick Kennedy, great-grandfather of President John F. Kennedy.[10]

Everyday lives

The Kennedys in the census

Who the Kennedys were in the 1901 and 1911 censuses (and 1926 where recorded), set against everyone in Ireland in the same census.

Kennedys All of Ireland Ireland's figure marked on the Kennedy bar

Religion, 1911

Catholic +4.6 points vs Ireland
Kennedys 78.2%
All of Ireland 73.6%
Church of Ireland −5.1 points vs Ireland
Kennedys 8.1%
All of Ireland 13.2%
Presbyterian +1.0 points vs Ireland
Kennedys 11.1%
All of Ireland 10.1%
Methodist & other −0.6 points vs Ireland
Kennedys 2.5%
All of Ireland 3.1%

Irish language

Spoke Irish, 1901 −1.1 points vs Ireland
Kennedys 14.2%
All of Ireland 15.3%
Spoke Irish, 1911 about the same as Ireland
Kennedys 13.7%
All of Ireland 13.5%
Spoke Irish, 1926 · 26 counties about the same as Ireland
Kennedys 13.2%
All of Ireland 13.5%

120 Kennedys spoke Irish only in 1901.

Reading & writing

Could read and write, 1901 · aged 15+ +1.9 points vs Ireland
Kennedys 82.3%
All of Ireland 80.4%
Could read and write, 1911 · aged 15+ +0.8 points vs Ireland
Kennedys 86.6%
All of Ireland 85.8%

Family life, 1911

Household size · 3,715 households about the same as Ireland
Kennedys 4.8
All of Ireland 4.83
Children born per mother · women 45–59 about the same as Ireland
Kennedys 6.48
All of Ireland 6.46
Children still living −0.7 points vs Ireland
Kennedys 79.1%
All of Ireland 79.8%

Commonest occupations

Adults aged 15+, 1901 and 1911 combined.

Farmer3,241
Farmer's son1,533
Farmer's daughter862
Agricultural labourer597
General labourer562
Labourer509
Farm servant506
House keeper380
Farm labourer351
Domestic servant292

Born outside Ireland

2.5% of Kennedys in 1911 gave a birthplace outside Ireland.

England252
Scotland104
United States55
India13
Australia & NZ11
Wales7

Median age: 24 in 1901, 26 in 1911.

Given names

First names among the Kennedys

Men and boys

  1. John3,538
  2. Patrick2,488
  3. James2,427
  4. Thomas1,992
  5. Michael1,942
  6. William1,295
  7. Joseph572
  8. Martin493
  9. Edward460
  10. Daniel397

Women and girls

  1. Mary3,923
  2. Bridget1,847
  3. Margaret1,521
  4. Ellen1,051
  5. Annie850
  6. Kate736
  7. Catherine733
  8. Elizabeth577
  9. Sarah552
  10. Anne552

All three censuses combined. Top five in 1926: John, Patrick, Michael, James, Thomas; Mary, Bridget, Margaret, Annie, Ellen.

Spellings

Spellings

This page combines the spellings below, which census enumerators and families used for the same name.

Spelling190119111926Records
Kennedy18,07617,62513,039Search
O'Kennedy274056Search

Related forms

  • O'Kennedy — The form keeping the Ó prefix, used by the Ormond family and by many today.[1][2]
  • O Kinedy — An early English spelling recorded by Woulfe.[1]
  • Kennedie — An older spelling noted by Wikipedia.[2]

Diaspora

The Kennedys abroad

Emigration carried the name worldwide. In the 2010 United States census:

SpellingPeopleUS rank
Kennedy176,865146th

Source: US Census Bureau, 2010 surname file (public domain).

Heraldry

Is there a Kennedy coat of arms?

Arms were granted to particular families, so there is no single Kennedy crest. Burke's General Armory records for the O'Kennedy sept three helmets in profile on a black field, with an arm holding a scimitar as the crest; Wikipedia gives the helmets as silver. The Portuguese branch is recorded with the motto 'Galea spes salutis'. The unrelated Scottish Clan Kennedy uses the motto 'Avise la fin' ('Consider the end').[6][3][7]

Websites selling a single “Kennedy family crest” are selling a design, not an inheritance. Arms in Ireland belonged to individuals and their heirs, and the Chief Herald of Ireland still grants arms that way today.

People

Notable people named Kennedy

  • Walter Kennedy (c. 1455–c. 1508)
    Scottish poet of the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
  • Patrick Kennedy (1801–1873)
    Wexford folklorist and bookseller who collected and published Irish folktales.
  • Edmund Kennedy (1818–1848)
    Assistant-surveyor of New South Wales who explored inland Queensland and died on his 1848 Cape York expedition.
  • Patrick Kennedy (1823–1858)
    Wexford cooper who emigrated to Boston in 1848; great-grandfather of John F. Kennedy.
  • Hugh Kennedy (1879–1936)
    First Attorney General of the Irish Free State and Chief Justice from 1924 to 1936.
  • John F. Kennedy (1917–1963)
    35th president of the United States and the first Catholic to hold the office.
  • Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968)
    US Attorney General and senator, assassinated during his 1968 presidential campaign.
  • Stanislaus Kennedy (1939–2025)
    Irish nun and social campaigner known as Sister Stan, a member of the Council of State.
  • Charles Kennedy (1959–2015)
    Scottish politician who led the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006.
  • Brian Kennedy (born 1966)
    Belfast singer-songwriter who represented Ireland at Eurovision in 2006.

Questions

Questions about the Kennedy name

Is Kennedy an Irish surname?

Yes. Kennedy is the English form of the Gaelic Ó Cinnéide. The leading family were the O'Kennedys, kinsmen of Brian Boru, who ruled as lords of Ormond in north Tipperary. Woulfe also records a smaller family in Co. Galway, and by his time the name was common throughout Ireland. There is also a separate Scottish Kennedy family from Ayrshire.[1][3][2]

Is Kennedy Irish or Scottish?

It can be either. The Irish Kennedys descend mainly from the Ó Cinnéide sept of Clare and Tipperary. The Scottish Kennedys are a Lowland clan from Carrick in Ayrshire, later Earls of Cassilis. Wikipedia describes the two families as unrelated. In Ulster, where many Scots settled, either origin is possible.[2][7]

What is Kennedy in Irish?

Kennedy in Irish is Ó Cinnéide, meaning 'descendant of Cinnéidigh'. Woulfe also gives the older spellings Ó Cinnéididh and Ó Cinnéidigh, and lists Ó Ceinnéididh as a further variant. The surname has kept the same Irish form for the Ormond and Galway families alike.[1]

What does the name Kennedy mean?

The personal name Cinnéidigh is usually explained as 'helmeted head', the meaning Woulfe gives. Wikipedia notes another reading, from ceann, 'head', and a word meaning 'ugly' or 'fierce'. Either way, the surname marks descent from a man of that name.[1][2]

Are the Kennedys descended from Brian Boru?

Not directly. They were his close kin. Wikipedia traces them to Donncuan, son of Cennétig, Brian Boru's father, which makes Donncuan Brian's brother. Woulfe and Burke likewise derive the family from Brian's brother Donnchuan. The O'Briens descend from Brian himself.[3][1][6]

Where did John F. Kennedy's family come from in Ireland?

His great-grandfather, Patrick Kennedy, came from Dunganstown in Co. Wexford. Patrick left Ireland during the Famine in October 1848, sailing from Liverpool and reaching Boston the following month, where he worked as a cooper. His son was Patrick Joseph Kennedy, and his grandson Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. was the president's father.[10]

Is there a Kennedy family crest?

No single crest belongs to everyone called Kennedy. Burke records arms for the O'Kennedy sept of three helmets in profile on black, and the Scottish Clan Kennedy has its own arms and the motto 'Avise la fin'. These belonged to particular families and are not shared by the whole name.[6][7]

Where in Ireland is the Kennedy surname most common?

In the 1911 census the largest numbers of Kennedys lived in Tipperary (2,497), Antrim (2,029), Dublin (1,937). Relative to population, the name was most concentrated in Tipperary (164 per 10,000), Kilkenny (72 per 10,000), Waterford (67 per 10,000).

How common was the Kennedy surname in Ireland?

17,665 people were recorded as Kennedy or O'Kennedy in the 1911 census of Ireland, making it the 19th most common surname. That is roughly 0.4% of the population, or 1 person in 249.

Looking for a Kennedy ancestor?

Search every Kennedy household in the 1901, 1911 and 1926 censuses, with free images of the original forms.

Search records on irishcensus.com

Evidence

Sources

  1. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Cinnéide, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  2. Wikipedia, Kennedy (surname) (2026)
  3. Wikipedia, O'Kennedy (2026)
  4. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Ceinnéididh, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  5. Wikipedia, Cennétig mac Lorcáin (2026)
  6. Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884). Entry 'O'Kennedy'.
  7. Wikipedia, Clan Kennedy (2026)
  8. Wikipedia, Lackeen Castle (2026)
  9. Wikipedia, Garrykennedy (2026)
  10. Wikipedia, Patrick Kennedy (1823–1858) (2026)
  11. Census of Ireland 1901 and 1911, and Census of Population 1926, National Archives of Ireland. Counts compiled by surnames.ie from the irishcensus.com transcription (dataset 20260831130351). 1926 data © National Archives of Ireland, CC BY 4.0.
  12. Irish forms cross-checked against Gaois surname data (Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, DCU).

How we compile these figures: methodology.