*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of Kenna

* As a Scottish surname, shortened from McKenna. * As a Manx and Irish surname, from Ó Cionaodha /Ó Cionaoith (“descendant of Cionaodh”), a name usually Anglicized as Kenneth.

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
name

A surname from Irish, a variant anglicization of Ó Cionaodha (Kinney). · A Scottish surname from Scottish Gaelic [in turn originating as a patronymic], a variant anglicization of Mac Cionaodha (McKenna). · An unincorporated community in Roosevelt County, New Mexico, United States; named for railroad official E. D. Kenna. · An unincorporated community in Jackson County, West Virginia, United States; named for senator John E. Kenna.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

* As a Scottish surname, shortened from McKenna. * As a Manx and Irish surname, from Ó Cionaodha /Ó Cionaoith (“descendant of Cionaodh”), a name usually Anglicized as Kenneth.

This page abbreviates 1 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gv",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Manx"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ga",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Irish"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "McKenna",
      "McKenna#English"
    ],
    [
      "Ó Cionaodha",
      "Ó Cionaodha#Irish"
    ],
    [
      "Ó Cionaoith",
      "Ó Cionaoith#Irish"
    ],
    [
      "Cionaodh",
      "Cionaodh"
    ],
    [
      "Kenneth",
      "Kenneth#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "name",
      "glosses": [
        "A surname from Irish, a variant anglicization of Ó Cionaodha (Kinney).",
        "A Scottish surname from Scottish Gaelic [in turn originating as a patronymic], a variant anglicization of Mac Cionaodha (McKenna).",
        "An unincorporated community in Roosevelt County, New Mexico, United States; named for railroad official E. D. Kenna.",
        "An unincorporated community in Jackson County, West Virginia, United States; named for senator John E. Kenna."
      ],
      "tags": [],
      "recordId": "f74c97aa088c06f7ea3c7544169a4f74ad47f94a93e80b9eaa3545fefd8cf84e",
      "rawRecordSha256": "5a78f84468dce78a6b7c625aa3ab154ad4ecaf6aac25ecebe788522f3c2a1e6b",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 6302719
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 1,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for Kenna →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-S2VubmE