History of the Kennedy Surname
The name Kennedy is an anglicised version of the Gaelic name Cinn éide which translates as helmeted head – hence the Kennedy logo of 3 helmeted heads.
Brian Ború as High King of Ireland enacted a law that required all families choose a name that would continue by inheritance. These surnames came into use in the early eleventh century and the name Ó Cinnéide was adopted as a surname by Mahoun, a son of Brian’s older brother Don Cuan . The prefix Ó meaning ‘descended from’ was used up to its repression by the English imposed Penal Laws of the 17th century and today most families simply use the Kennedy name. without the Ó prefix.
Lords of Ormond.
The original Cinnéide stronghold was near Killaloe in East Clare but it seems that they came to occupy first the lands of Lower Ormond and later Upper Ormond in North Tipperary by the middle of the 12th century. They established themselves as Lords of Ormond and during the following centuries built a series of castles to copperfasten their control of these territories.
Their biggest threat came with the Cromwellian Plantation of the mid 1600’s where Irish landowners were dispossessed of their lands with the ultimatum of “Go to Hell or to Connacht” but as Kennedy author and historian Brian Patrick Kennedy has outlined in his comprehensive history of the Irish Kennedys the Kennedy clan continued to flourish in Upper and Lower Ormond right up to the present day.
The Kennedy Surname.
The Kennedy Surname continues to be one of the most common surnames in Ireland today with many other Kennedys dispersed throughout the world.
So whether you live in Ireland or some far flung corner of our world and your name is Kennedy or you are descended from a Kennedy the chances are that your lineage can be traced back to the Kennedys of the baronies of Ormond in North Tipperary.
Distribution of Kennedys
Map of Ireland and location of Ormond Barony
Barony of Ormond
North Tipperary today, map of the barony of Ormond.
Kennedy Castles - Tipperary
There are many Kennedy Tower Houses/ Castles still standing today.Lisquillabeen
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