Kennedy

Kennedy meaning

Kennedy is an international girl's name of Irish origin, also used for boys.

Descendant of Cinnéididh, "helmeted head"; an Irish surname

Also used to mean: helmeted chief

Kennedy began as an Irish surname, the English form of Ó Cinnéide, "descendant of Cinnéididh". Patrick Woulfe's Irish Names and Surnames explains that personal name as "helmeted head". He traces the main family to Cinnéidigh, a nephew of Brian Boru, whose descendants were lords of Ormond in Tipperary from the twelfth to the sixteenth century; a second family belonged to the Uí Máine of Galway. Some name lists give "ugly head", which we could not confirm in Woulfe. The surname became famous worldwide through the American Kennedy family, and in the US it is now mostly a girl's first name. It is said KEN-uh-dee.

Source: Patrick Woulfe, Irish Names and Surnames (1923) · entry Ó Cinnéide · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Woulfe, Irish Names and Surnames, Ó Cinnéide (Library Ireland)

Famous namesakes

• John F. Kennedy, president of the United States (surname)

Popularity abroad

• #85 United States, girls 2025 (up 4 from 89 in 2024)
  US Social Security Administration

Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.

Spellings

Kennedy · Kennedi

Related names

More names of Irish origin

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