Kearney Surname Meaning, History & Origin

Kearney Surname Meaning

The Kearney name is Irish and in many cases an anglicized version of the Gaelic O’Catharnaigh or “descendant of Catharnach.” This is a personal name meaning “warlike” or “victorious.”

Alternatively Kearney might come from O’Cearnaigh or MacCearnaigh (derived from cearnach meaning ‘victorious’) or from O’Ceithearnaigh, a descendant of Ceithearnach, this being a personal name from “foot soldier.”

The main surname variant is Carney. In Ireland this surname is less common than Kearney and is generally confined to county Mayo on the west coast. However, there are more Carneys than Kearneys in America.

Kearney and Carney Surname Resources on The Internet

Kearneys of Pontglenone
Kearney early history.
Kearney/Carney – Emigrants/Immigrants From Ireland to other countries.
The Brickmason’s Sons Carneys in Bay City, Michigan.
In Search of Albert Carney Albert Carney and the Pilbara in Western Australia.

Kearney and Carney Surname Ancestry

from Ireland
to England, America, Canada and Australia

Ireland. Kearney is a common surname and is widespread throughout Ireland. In the 1890 Irish index the main Kearney numbers were said to have come from Dublin, Cork and Antrim; while the alternative Carney spelling was only listed as coming from Mayo. Kearneys then outnumbered Carneys by three to one.

Mayo. In the west the name in Gaelic form originated in county Mayo near Moynulla. This was the territory of the O‘Cearnaigh, a branch of the earlier Uí Fiachrach group of clans. There it was often anglicized as Carney.

Tipperary. A separate family of the same name, but anglicized as Kearney, arose in Clare and migrated in early times to the area around Cashel in Tipperary. Nicholas O’Kearney who died in 1460 held a number of extensive estates there and his tomb is to be found in the Rock of Cashel.

Michael Kearney, born in 1588, was described as the Chieftain of Fethard in Tipperary. From his line came John Kearney, Secretary of State to King James II whom he accompanied into exile in France.

One Kearney branch from Tipperary did well in the 18th century. Michael Kearney involved himself in the Dublin city politics of his day; while John Kearney became Provost of Trinity College, Dublin and later Bishop of Ossory.

In the mid-19th century Fulmoth Kearney, related to John, set off for America at the time of the Great Famine in Ireland. From him, four generations later on the maternal side, came US President Barack Obama.

Meath. The most historically important family was the O’Catharnaigh whose name came from the Gaelic word catharnach meaning “warlike.”

They were chiefs of a large territory in the midlands in the modern counties of Meath and nearby Offaly.. The place-name of Ballymacarney in Meath reflected their presence. However, the Meath Kearneys came to be known as Fox, the head of the family being styled as ‘the Fox.’

Ulster. There were further Kearney lines in Derry and Donegal from early times. James O’Kerny was appointed Bishop of Connor in 1324.

England. England was the nearest place for Irish and Kearney/Carney emigation and Lancashire with its industry and jobs was the main place to go. Lancashire accounted for just over 40% of all the Kearneys and Carneys in England in the 1891 census.

Earlier arrivals there had been:

Cornelius Carney from county Down who came to the Isle of Man and married Susannah Emmett there in 1849
Nicholas and Margaret Carney from Ireland who came to Liverpool around 1850
John and Amelia Carney from county Down who came to Liverpool around 1850
and Bernard and Bridget Kearney from county Down who came to Liverpool in the 1860’s.

John and Mary Carney from county Mayo arrived in Batley, Yorkshire in 1862. Their son Andrew was born in Batley that year. When Andrew grew up, he worked as a coal miner but had a bad reputation for being drunk and disorderly. In 1885 Andrew married a Geordie girl.and they had ten children. However, these children grew up in very bad conditions.

Their son Lawrence married and moved out. But World War One came. He enlisted, was sent to the Western Front, and died of his wounds there in 1916. Five of Lawrence’s brothers also fought in the war. They all survived.

America. Five early arrivals during colonial times were Edmund Kearny, William Carney, Dyre Kearney, Mark Carney, and William Kearney.

Early Arrivals. The first may have been Edmund Kearny from Carlow. He came to New York sometime in the 1660’s. His son Michael, born there in 1669, became a prominent New York merchant. He later settled in East Jersey where he was recorded as its Secretary and Treasurer.

The line from Michael’s son Philip Kearny led to:

Philip Kearny Sr. (1780-1849), a New York financier who was a founder of the New York Stock Exchange.
and Philip Kearny Jr. (1815-1862), a US army officer who distinguished himself in the Mexican-American War and in the Civil War (he was killed in action in 1862).

Then there was the Englishman William Carney who had arrived in Norfolk county, Virginia around 1650. After his death his family became planters in Halifax county, North Carolina. Stephen Carney, born about 1760, owned slaves, engaged in horse-racing, and concerned himself with local politics. He died without issue in 1811.

There were some early Kearneys in Delaware. Dyre Kearney had been born in Kent county, Delaware around 1722. He was reportedly the son of Edward Kearney and his wife Rebecca Dyre or Dyer with possible Quaker roots. He was a lawyer who served as a delegate for Delaware at the Continental Congress in 1787.

A fourth early presence was Mark Carney. He was born around 1740, married Suzanne Goux, and lived in Pownalboro, Maine. Mark’s origin is unknown, being either Irish or French (his wife was French and he was sometimes called Garnet). It was said that he came straight from Boston Common on arrival to take up residence in Pownalboro. Mark’s line was covered in Sidney Carney’s 1904 book Genealogy of the Carney Family.

William Kearney had come to Virginia around 1750 and made his home in Charlottesville. He and his wife Jane had five sons. During the Revolutionary War four of these sons took the American side; while one son, Alexander, was loyal to the British crown. After the war Alexander left with his family for Carleton, New Brunswick in Canada.

Later Arrivals. Andrew Carney who had apprenticed in the tailoring industry in his native Cavan came to Boston in 1816. He soon established his clothing shop on Boston’s North End. After securing a contract in 1835 to supply the US Navy with uniforms, he became a wealthy clothing magnate. In his latter years he devoted himself to real estate investment and to philanthropy for Catholic causes.

Charles E. Kearney had immigrated to Texas from Galway in Ireland in 1837. In 1852 he moved to Kansas City where he outfitted travelers for their journeys west on the Oregon Trail. While there he saw the need for a rail link between Chicago to Texas that should go via Kansas City. He argued his case.

The route would entail the building of a bridge across the Missouri river. That bridge – the Hannibal Bridge – was completed in 1869. The town of Kearney along the route in Missouri was named after Charles and he became the first President of the Kansas and Cameron Railroad.

Of more local interest has been the house in Clover, New Jersey which James and Rachel Kearney bought in 1817 and then ran as both a home and a tavern. James died in 1831. Bur Rachel, known locally as Auntie Kearney, remained a well-known figure there until her death at the age of ninety in 1870. In 1907 the house was acquired and has been preserved as the Kearney House in the Palisades Interstate Park in New Jersey.

Canada. The Kearneys may have been the oldest Irish family in Newfoundland. Their line at Ferryland ran as follows:

from John (b. 1750’s) and Elizabeth Kearney
to Michael (b. 1782) and Mary Kearney
and to John and Mary (nee Field) Kearney

Michael Kearney was the great Newfoundland shipbuilder of the early/mid 19th century. His son Captain John Kearney tragically lost his life in the sinking of his ship off Cape Breton in 1852.

Bernard or Barney Kearney arrived in Prince Edward island around 1819. There were further Kearney arrivals into the Maritime Provinces in the 1830’s and 1840’s. Patrick Kearney came to Oxford county, Ontario around 1845.

Much later to Vancouver came Robert Carney from county Mayo in the 1920’s. He joined the Canadian Mounties. His grandson Mark Carney became Canada’s Prime Minister in 2025.

Australia. William Kearney had been born on Norfolk Island, the son of a reputed squire from county Mayo. In 1807 at the age of twelve he arrived in Tasmania with his mother Catherine and his younger brother Thomas.

William grew up in Hobart and over time became a substntial landowner and horse racing enthusiast in the colony. He became known as the Squire of Richmond after building his stone mansion, Laburnum Park, in 1829. However, the economic slump of 1841 pretty much ruined him.

Other Kearney/Carney early arrivals were convicts and assisted immigrants:

Felix Kearney, a 17 year-old servant from Dublin, was convicted of burglary in 1818 and transported to Sydney.
Hugh and Mary Ann Carney from Roscommon were assisted immigrants who came to Sydney around 1823.
Michael Kearney was convicted of murder in Tipperary in 1828 and was transported to Sydney. He became a member of a gang of convict rebels who roamed the Bathurst region of NSW. Captured in 1830, he was hanged.
Henry Carney from Cambridgeshire in England was convicted of sheep stealing in 1835 and transported to Sydney. His son Henry also ran foul of the law in 1852 and was transported, this time to the Swan River settlement in Western Australia.
Patrick and Margaret Kearney and their family from Clare were assisted immigrants who arrived in Sydney on the Formosa in 1839.
while James Kearney, a convicted Fenian from Cork, was one of the last convicts transported to Australia in 1867.

Meanwhile Margaret Szalay’s 2006 book Limerick to Queensland: The Kearney Family Story described an Irish emigrant family that came to central Queensland in the 1860’s.

Riches might have come to the convict line from England shown here. The younger Henry Carney was grandfather to Albert Carney who acquired land on the Pilbara in Western Australia in the 1930’s. However, sometime around 1960 Albert vacated the land around his Mount Newman station before the significance of the nearby iron ore deposits was known.

Mark Carney’s Family Line

Mark Carney has Irish roots from county Mayo. His grandfather left Ireland for Canada in the 1920’s. Mark, born in Canada’s NW Territories, became Governor of the Bank of England and Prime Minister of Canada. Just click below if you want to read more about this story:

Mark Carney’s Family History

Kearney and Carney Surname Miscellany

Kearneys and Carneys in County Mayo

The anglicized Carney name originated in county Mayo. But the Kearney spelling was also to be found there. Indeed in Griffith’s Valuation of 1856 the Kearney household numbers were greater than the Carney numbers:

Kearney 133
Carney 82

Kearneys dominated in northern Mayo, particularly in and around Turlough northeast of Castlebar. The Carney name meanwhile had originated at Moynulla near Castlebar and was more evident to the south and east of Castlebar. There were also smaller Carney enclaves in SW Mayo around Aughagower where the family of Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister, came from.

Kearney and Carney Numbers Today (000’s)

Country Kearney Carney Total
Ireland 7 2 9
UK 9 7 16
America 11 18 29
Elsewhere 8 2 10
Total 35 29 64

Micharl Kearney, Dublin Peruke Maker. Michael Kearney, born at Shinrone in Offaly sometime in the 1690’s, was a Dublin peruke or wig maker.

He entered the Guild of Barber Surgeons and Periwigmakers in 1717 as a capillamentarius or hairdresser. The next year he established a business as a ‘peruke’ or wig-maker and set up shop on Castle Street.

Wigs for men and hairpieces for women were essential for formal dress occasions – the 18th-century equivalent of a business suit. His business was hugely successful and in 1726 Michael was elected as Master of his Guild.

His opponents said of him: “No man alive was equally fired with ambition” in a scurrilous pamphlet in which he was accused of trying to take over the Guild of Barber Surgeons and Periwig Makers in Dublin.

He lived a long life and died in Dublin in 1762.

From Irish Wig Making to President Barack Obama. During the 18th century a wigmaker in Ireland could expect to have a prosperous career. Wigs were popular among the aristocracy.

But the next century brought a cold reappraisal of artificial hair. In the tiny village of Moneygall, on the border of Offaly and Tipperary, the Kearney family turned to shoemaking.

By the arrival of the Great Famine, these Kearneys joined millions of fellow citizens who were anxious to escape. When the Kearneys learned that a relative of theirs in America had bequeathed a parcel of land to them in Ohio, they decided to leave. First the father Joseph Kearney departed in 1849, then Fulmoth (aged nineteen) and his sister Margaret in 1850, and finally the mother and the two younger siblings in 1851.

Fulmoth, Obama’s ancestor, travelled to Liverpool and boarded a ship bound for New York. From New York this intense-looking man with a mop of dark hair made his way to Ohio. There he married a young lady named Charlotte Holloway.

Fulmoth died in 1878. But his and Charlotte’s youngest daughter had children of her own. And those children had children. And those children had children. One of the little babies here was Barack Obama.

Carneys and Abandoned Irish Homes. The writer had just returned from Ireland after visiting where her Carneys had once lived.

“The Carney family did not come from Meath. Both your great grandmother and your great grandfather came from Achill Island which is part of county Mayo. Mary Carney nee Dever came from the village of Ashleam and Michael Carney from Salia.

We saw both the old Carney home and the Dever home. The Carney home is in ruins. It was abandoned when Michael Carney left Ireland.

Most of our relatives emigrated to America or England or have died. I saw just one cousin when I was there. Nobody is at home now.”

William Carney, A Belated Civil War Hero. William H. Carney was born an African American slave in Norfolk, Virginia in 1840. How he made his way to freedom is not certain. According to most accounts, he escaped through the Underground Railroad and joined his father in Massachusetts.

After the commencement of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Morgan Guards (later part of the 54th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry) as a Sergeant in March 1863. He then took part in the July 1863 assault on Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina. His actions ultimately earned him the Medal of Honor.

When the color guard was killed, William Carney retrieved the American flag and marched forward with it despite having multiple wounds. When the Union troops were forced to retreat under fire, he struggled back across the battlefield. He eventually returned to his own lines and turned over the colors to another survivor of the 54th, saying: “Boys, I only did my duty; the old flag never touched the ground!”

William received an honorable discharge from the army in June 1864 due to the disability from his wounds. He was still alive to receive his Medal of Honor on May 1900, nearly 37 years after the events that occurred at Fort Wagner. He died in 1908. Engraved on his tombstone is an image of that Medal of Honor.

William Kearney in Kansas. William Kearney was born in 1854 and was a nephew to General Philip Kearney who died during the Civil War. He began life as a pump boy in the oil fields of Pennsylvania. In the early years he gained a fortune in that industry. But then he lost it.

And then William Kearney married Maggie Gillespie. It was his marriage that proved to be the turning point of his career. She exercised a great influence for good over him and he was never reluctant to ascribe to her much of the credit for all that he accomplished.

While in the oil fields of Pennsylvania he had become addicted to drink. But after his marriage his wife suggested that they move to a country where liquor was not manufactured nor sold under legal permission.

Thus it was in 1880 that they came to Shawnee, Kansas where prohibition prevailed. Since that time William Kearney never had anything to do with alcoholic liquors.

Arriving in poverty, he soon discovered a piece of land which attracted him. This land adjoined the town of Tecumseh and its owner was John Mulvane. He sold him that land on credit when he found out that William was not a drinker. William and his wife soon paid for the land through their industry and good management. And William always regarded John Mulvane as the best friend he ever had in Kansas.

Peadar Kearney. Peadar Kearney, born in 1883, was from a Louth family. His father had come to Dublin and worked there as a grocer. He died unexpectedly on Christmas Day in 1897 when Peadar was fourteen.

In 1901 Peadar joined the Gaelic League and in 1903 became a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. In 1907 he wrote the words of A Soldier’s Song, which was to become the Irish national anthem. Other popular songs he wrote included The Tri-Coloured Ribbon and Down by the Glenside.

He fought in the Rising of 1916 at Jacob’s Factory. Arrested in 1920, he was jailed for twelve months. Later, he was associated with the Abbey Theatre. He was uncle to the poet and playwright Brendan Behan who was born in Dublin in 1923 and also became active in Republican circles. Peadar died in 1942.

Kearney and Carney Names

David Kearney was Archbishop of Cashel in Tipperary from 1603 to 1625.
Michael Kearney was the leading Newfoundland shipbuilder of the early/mid 1800’s.
Peadar Kearney wrote the words to A Soldier’s Song in 1907 which later became the Irish national anthem.
Art Carney played Ed Norton in the 1950’s American TV sitcom The Honeymmoners.
Don and Frank Carney started the restaurant chain Pizza Hut in Kansas in 1958.
Mark Carney was the Canadian who became the Governor of the Bank of England in 2013 and the Prime Minister of Canada in 2025.

Kearney and Carney Numbers Today

16,000 in the UK (most numerous in London)
29,000 in America (most numerous in California)
19,000 elsewhere (most numerous in Ireland)

Kearney, Carney and Like Surnames

The Irish clan or sept names come through the mists of time until they were found in Irish records such as The Annals of the Four Masters. The names were Gaelic and this Gaelic order was preserved until it was battered down by the English in the 1600’s.

Some made peace with the English. “Wild geese” fled to fight abroad. But most stayed and suffered, losing land and even the use of their language. Irish names became anglicized, although sometimes in a mishmash of spellings. Mass emigration happened after the potato famine of the 1840’s.

Some surnames – such as Kelly, Murphy and O’Connor – span all parts of Ireland. But most will have a territorial focus in one of the four Irish provinces – Leinster, Munster, Ulster, and Connacht.

Munster in SW Ireland covers the counties of Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, and Waterford. Here are some of the Munster surnames that you can check out.