Kennedy (given name)

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Kennedy.

Kennedy
Cinnéididh and Cinnéidigh in a Gaelic type. Note the lenited g and d in the names (gh, dh) once appeared in Irish orthography with a dot above them.
Pronunciation/ˈkɛnɪdi/
GenderUnisex
Language(s)English
Origin
Language(s)Irish
Other names
See alsoKennedy (surname)

Kennedy (also spelled Kenedi, Kennedie, Kennedi) (

Anglicised form of a masculine given name in the Irish language
.

Etymology

According to Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges, the given name Kennedy is an anglicisation of Cinnéidigh, a masculine given name in the Irish language.[2][3] This Irish name is composed of two elements: the first, ceann "head"; the second, éidigh "ugly".[3] According to Patrick Woulfe, who wrote in the early 19th century, Kennedy is an anglicised form the Irish Cinnéididh and Cinnéidigh. Woulfe derived these Irish names from two elements: the first, ceann, meaning "a head"; the second, éide, meaning "armour"; hence the name can be thought to mean "helmet-headed".[4]

Other languages

As a masculine given name, Kennedy can be rendered into Irish as Cinnéididh and Cinnéidigh,

etymologically unrelated to the English Kennedy and Irish Cinnéidigh. Uarraig is composed of two Scottish Gaelic elements: the first, uall, means "pride"; and the second, garg, means "fierce". This Scottish Gaelic name is Anglicised Kennedy possibly because it was commonly borne by various families who bore the surname Kennedy.[5] One such family, according tradition dating from the 18th century, descended from a man who bore a form of this name, and settled in Lochaber in the 16th century.[6][7][8]

Popularity and use

Throughout the

assassinated in 1963, and his brother Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968.[2]

In the

1990 United States Census, and released a sample of data concerning the most popular names.[10] According to this sample of 6.3 million people (who had 5,494 unique first names),[11] Kennedy did not even appear among the 4,275 feminine names, or the 1,219 masculine names.[12][13]

Popularity charts

Social Security card
applications concerning male and female births in the United States of America.

People

Notable people with the given name or nickname Kennedy include:

Males with the name

Females with the name

  • Kennedy Burke (born 1997), American professional basketball player
  • Kennedy Faulknor (born 1999), Canadian soccer player
  • Kennedy Fraser (born 1948), American writer
  • Kennedy Goss (born 1996), Canadian competitive swimmer
  • Kennedy Holmes
    , American singer
  • Kennedy Marchment (born 1996), Canadian professional ice hockey player
  • Kennedy McMann (born 1996), American actress
  • Lisa Kennedy Montgomery (born 1972), known mononymously as Kennedy, American political commentator
  • Kennedy Summers (born 1987), American model and actress
  • Kennedy Ashlyn Wenning, American musician under the alias SRSQ

References

  1. ^ Kennedy, Dictionary.com, retrieved 14 November 2010 which cited: Dictionary.com Unabridged, Random House.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1
    .
  4. ^ a b c Cinnéididh, Cinnéidigh, Library Ireland (www.libraryireland.com), retrieved 16 January 2011, which is a transcription of: Woulfe, Patrick (1923), Irish Names and Surnames.
  5. ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1
    .
  6. ^ Black, George Fraser (1946), The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning, and History, New York: New York Public Library, pp. 569–570.
  7. ^ Macbain, Alexander (1911), An etymological dictionary of the Gaelic language, Stirling, Scotland: Eneas Mackay, p. 402.
  8. ^ Buchanan of Auchmar, William (1849), An historical and genealogical essay upon the family and surname of Buchanan; to which is added a brief inquiry into the genealogy and present state of ancient Scottish surnames, and more particularly of the Highland clans, Cincinnati: J.A. & U.P. James, p. 183, this book is a reprint of Buchanan of Auchmar's 1723 book.
  9. Social Security Online, archived from the original
    on 2 February 2018, retrieved 17 November 2010.
  10. ^ Genealogy Data: Frequently Occurring Surnames from Census 1990 – Names Files, United States Census Bureau, archived from the original on 31 December 2009, retrieved 21 October 2010.
  11. ^ Documentation and Methodology for Frequently Occurring Names in the U.S., United States Census Bureau, archived from the original (txt) on 31 December 2009, retrieved 21 October 2010.
  12. ^ dist.male.first (txt), United States Census Bureau, retrieved 17 November 2010.
  13. ^ dist.female.first, United States Census Bureau, archived from the original (txt) on 4 September 2014, retrieved 17 November 2010.

See also

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kennedy_(given_name)&oldid=1212184536"