Cunningham
Mac Cuinneagáin · son of Cuinneagán
Cunningham is Mac Cuinneagáin in Irish, said mak KIN-a-gawn, and means son of Cuinneagán.
Built on Conn. The Scottish Cunninghams are a separate family who came over in the Ulster plantation, so the name in the north has two unrelated sources.
How it changes
- A man: Mac Cuinneagáin
- His daughter: Nic Cuinneagáin
- A woman who married into it: Bean Mhic Cuinneagáin
- The family together: Mhic Cuinneagáin
Where it comes from
Donegal and Down
Also spelt
Cunningham, Conegan, Cunnigan, Kinnegan
A name, not a pedigree
This is where the name came from, which is not the same as where you came from. Names were translated, anglicised, taken on by tenants and neighbours, and carried in by settlers who were no relation to the family that started them. To follow your own line, the 1901 and 1911 censuses are free and searchable, and give the county each person was born in.