Carney
A surname of Irish origin, often treated as an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cearnaigh or Mac Cearnaigh.
The #1,066 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 9,385 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Carney is generally explained as an Anglicized Irish surname from Gaelic forms such as Ó Cearnaigh and, in some families, Mac Cearnaigh. The personal name Cearnach is usually taken to mean something like 'victorious' or 'triumphant,' though older writers vary in how they gloss it. In practice, the surname has been used for more than one Irish family, so a single exact derivation may not fit every Carney line.
History
The historical sources provided link Carney with Irish forms including O'Kearney and MacKearney, showing that the name was already being recorded in several spellings in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century scholarship. The name is especially associated with Irish counties including Sligo, and also appears in sources connected with Clare, Kerry, and Limerick. In English-language records it often alternates with Kearney, Kearny, and Karny/Carny spellings.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older Irish surname dictionaries sometimes grouped Carney together with both Mac- and O'- forms, which is a useful reminder that one modern spelling can conceal several different family histories.
From the historical record
“l6gS. Mui4c3— Willisin loland and Anne Carney: St. Diana Bacicchurch. "^ttndoa, I, I, I, a o, i: MDB. (co, Lincoln), I, 4. 1. 1. i, o; (EaB Rid. Yorlu) UalludX J; Philadtiphia (Gal- landX a.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances