KENNA'S WEB GENEALOGY

Kenna Name Variations and History

Kenaith, O Kenny, O Kenna, Kinna, Kinney, Kenna, Kenny; (fire-sprung); the name of several distinct families in different parts of Ireland. It was common, in the 16th century, in all parts of Leinster and Munster, and in Galway, Roscommon and Tyrone.

Source: Irish Names and Surnames

Also, for the Kenna's in Little Falls, NY variations include: Kanna, Kana, Canay, and Kenny.

Kenna Surname History

MacKenna is the English form of the Irish surname Mac Cionaoith. The Mac Cionaoith were originally based in Meath, but in early times were brought north into Clogher as hired fighters by the rulers of that territory, and quickly became lords in their own right of Truagh, a territory on the borders of the modern counties of Tyrone and Monaghan. Their power endured down to the seventeenth century, their last chief being Patrick McKenna, who died near Emyvale Co. Monaghan in 1616. Another branch of this family settled in Co. Down in the seventeenth century, near the town of Maghera. The name is one of the few for which anglicisation, the loss of the "Mac" prefix, has never worked. The surname is still very numerous in the area of the original homeland, to the point where suffixes and local nicknames are necessary to identify the different families of the name. Over the centuries, however, has spread throughout the country. In the century since Matheson’s survey of the frequency of Irish surnames, the McKennas appear to have gone forth and multiplied. Ranked 89th in 1890, with 201 births of the name, by 1996 they were at 68th in the Republic of Ireland and 52nd in Northern Ireland, based on telephone directory listings. .Juan MacKenna (1771-1814) was born at Clogher in Co. Tyrone, educated in Barcelona and became Governor of Oserno in Chile. He became a general under the Liberator Bernardo O’Higgins in the fight for Chilean independence and was killed in a duel with one of O’Higgins opponents. Siobh’n McKenna (1921-86) was the most famous Irish actress of her generation, renowned for her parts in Shaw’s St. Joan and Murphy’s Bailegangaire. T.P. McKenna (b. 1929), originally from Cavan, is also well-known on television, in films and on the stage of the Abbey. Martin McKenna (1832-1907) emigrated to Australia in 1845 and set up the Campaspe Brewery. He became a respected politician and farmer.

Source: http://scripts.ireland.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?fuseaction=History&Surname=kenna&UserID=

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(Mac)Kenna - another history

MacKenna is one of the few names from which the old Gaelic prefixes of mac and O were not generally dropped in the dark period of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Though almost always written MacKenna, in the spoken language Kenna is quite common and in some places, notably Clare and Kerry, the emphasis in on the final A, with the result that births have been from time to time registered under many synonyms - such as Kennagh, Ginnaw, and even Gna. These forms are peculiar to Co. Kerry. by origin, however, the MacKennas do not belong to Munster. They are a branch of the southern Ui Neill but, nevertheless, t hey are seated in south Ulster, their territory beigh Truagh (the modern barony of Trough in the northern part of Co. Monaghan). A branch of this sept settled in the parish of Maghera, Co. Down in the seventeenth century. The MacKennas, though "lords of Truagh", were not prominent in mediaeval times. O'Dugan in the "Topographical Poems" says that they were originally Meath men before they settled in Truagh. In our modern history nearly all of MacKennas of note have made their name in the field of literature. Niall MacKenna (b. c. 1710) was a Gaelic poet and harper: Theobald Mac Kenna (d. 1808), secretary of the Catholic Committee in 1791, was a prolific pamphleteer; Andrew MacKenna (1833-1872), was a leading editor and writer in Belfast; Stephen MacKenna (1837-1883), was a novelist; better known as a novelist is another Stephen MacKenna (b. 1888), while a third Stephen MacKenna (1872-1934) was translator of Plontius and an Irish language enthusiast; Father Lambert MacKenna, S.J. (1870-1956), known for his English-Irish Dictionary, has many Gaelic language publications to his credit. Nearly all of these were of families belonging to the country around Trough, as also was General John MacKenna (1771-1814), who, after a period of service in the Spanish army, joined Bernard O'Higgins, the "Liberator of Chile" and became an outstanding figure in South America. Patrick MacKenna (b. c. 1765), of Maghera, was an active associate of Wolfe Tone and Napper Tandy: he became a successful shipbuilders at Boulogne. Father Charles MacKenna, P.P. of Donagh, which is in the barony of Trough, was chaplain to the Irish Brigade at Fontenoy in 1745. At the present time probably the best known bearer of the name is Siobhan MacKenna, the Irish actress.

Source: http://www.goireland.com/genealogy/family.htm?FamilyId=201

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The Province of Leinster (Laighin)

Although the territorial divisions they embody are very ancient, the Irish provinces have never been used as administrative regions, and for the most part, do not inspire the same kind of allegiance as counties or parishes. Virtually the only area in which they now have everyday significance is sport, particularly Gaelic football and hurling, where the championship are organised first within and then between the provinces.

Leinster is the most easterly of the Irish provinces, and includes counties Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, and Wicklow. Its name derives from the Laighin, a Celtic tribe which was part of the earliest wave of Celtic invasions of Ireland, and which ruled the area now covered by counties Carlow, Kilkenny and Wexford. The modern province also includes the territory which was part of the ancient fifth province, M’de.

Although the high-kings of Ireland ruled from Tara, virtually none of them had undisputed authority, and bloody internecine warfare was constant throughout the province for centuries. It was a dispute between Dermot MacMurrough, king of Leinster, and Rory O'Connor, then high-king, which led to the invitation to the Anglo-Norman barons to join in. MacMurrough has understandably been vilified by later Irish nationalists, but the Normans were perfectly capable of arriving without an invitation and would undoubtedly have got around to it eventually anyway.

In the nineteenth century, Leinster was already the richest and most populous province, which meant it was spared the full brunt of the Famine and the later depopulation through emigration. It retains that position of relative wealth today, with a large conurbation centred on Dublin, but extending into the neighbouring counties of Wicklow, Kildare and Meath.

Source: http://scripts.ireland.com/ancestor/browse/counties/leinster/

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The Province of Munster (Mumhain)

Munster is the most southern of the provinces, consisting of counties Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford. Its name derives from a pre-Christian goddess, Muma. Like the other provinces of Leinster and Ulster, the full English name incorporates the original Gaelic, together with the Norman suffix "-ster", which is related to the modern French terre, meaning "land".

In the divisions used before the arrival of the Normans, the province was divided into two, the northern kingdom of Thomond and the southern kingdom of Desmond, with the border running through the Slieve Luachra mountains. For centuries the Munster Eoghanachta dynasties - later to acquire such surnames as McCarthy, O'Sullivan and O'Connell - fought intermittent wars with the high kings based in Leinster, and with the O'Briens. After the coming of the Normans their power waned and the Butler and Fitzgerald families dominated the north and south of the province respectively.

Apart from the large towns of Cork, Waterford and Limerick, in the nineteenth century Munster was still a predominantly rural region, with a wide variation in prosperity, from the relatively fertile and wealthy areas of south Tipperary and east Cork, to the bare subsistence levels along the Atlantic coast in south Kerry and west Cork. It was these latter areas that suffered most in the Famine itself and in the great emigrant depopulation which followed.

Source: http://scripts.ireland.com/ancestor/browse/counties/munster/index.htm