Kennelly
An Irish surname, usually from an old Gaelic family name meaning a descendant of a person with a strong, probably personal-name based identity.
The #9,666 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 91,943 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Kennelly is an anglicized Irish surname. The historical forms point to an old Gaelic surname beginning with "Ó" or "Mac" and a personal name element such as Cionnaith/Cionaodh or a related form; nineteenth-century scholars linked it with neighboring Irish surnames rather than with an English word. The precise Gaelic source is not completely settled in the excerpts, so the safest summary is that it is an Irish family name whose original meaning lay in a now-obscure personal name.
History
Kennelly is found mainly in Ireland, especially in the southwest, and appears in older surname lists alongside other Irish names with similar spellings such as Kinnealy and Connelly. The name has been carried into English-language records in several spellings, with Kennelly becoming the standard modern form. It is now also found in the United States through Irish migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older Irish surname studies, Kennelly is often discussed in the same cluster as names like Kinnealy and Kinsella because the spellings can look deceptively similar in handwritten records.
From the historical record
“rriAC ComseAllAij, Quinnelly, Kennelly, Connelly, Connolly, ITJac Cotnin, Cuneen, Cunneen. Conyeen, Kinneen, Kenning, Canning, etc ; Rabbit.”
— Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish names and surnames