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[Surname] Kearney?
A friend of mine mentioned the name "Kearney" to me, and I don't know that I'd ever heard it before. Is is legit? She said it's Irish/Gaelic and means "warrior", but I don't know where she got her info from... Does anyone know any more than that?
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Your friend is pretty much on the money. Kearney is used as an English language version of two Irish names - O Cearnaigh and O Catharnaigh. O Cearnaigh is a patronym based on the personal name Cearnach, which is said to mean "victorious"; O Catharnaigh is based on the name Catharnach, said to mean "warlike". This is probably the name your friend was referring to. O Catharnaigh has also become Carney in English, and some of this name have adopted the English surname Fox for a reason it would take a long time to explain.
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thanks so much
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