Kenneth
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Kenneth |
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Kenneth is a male given name.
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[edit] Origin
It is an anglicized form of either the Pictish name Ciniod or the Goidelic name Cináed, and could mean "fire-head" or "born of fire." Other names have also been anglicized as Kenneth, including the Irish Gaelic Coinneach ("handsome one") and the Welsh Cenydd or Cennydd (the name of a Welsh hermit saint who traditionally lived in the 6th century). The Old English Cyneath may mean "royal oath" but may also be one of the earliest Anglicizations of the Scoto-Pictish name. Saint John Kenneth Ceriales Day is October 11. English nicknames include Kenny and Ken, the latter also being a Japanese name.
[edit] Kenna
Kenna is the Irish/Scottish form of the given name Kenneth. It has become a popular female name in the United States of America, however can be found throughout the Irish diaspora more commonly as a surname/clan name.
The name Kenna dates back to a time before Irish names were anglicised (translated to English). The Original Gaelic spelling of Kenna was Cionaoith. Variations of the family name exist including Kennagh, Kenny, Kinna, Kinnie, and other numerous alternatives. Kenna is more often than not combined with the patronymic "Mac" or "Mc", meaning "son of"; for example "McKenna". It would appear that some dropped the patrynomic around the 18th and 19th centuries. However MacKenna's still outnumber Kenna's 10 to 1.
Early references to the name are found in county Monaghan at Truagh. They were referred to as being the "Lords of Truagh". Versions of the surname are obviously common through out Ireland and the United Kingdom, but also in countries commonly settled by Irish and Scottish settlers/convicts, such as Canada, The United States of America, Australia and New Zealand.
[edit] People
- (see also Ken (name) and Kenny)
- Cainnech of Aghaboe, Saint Canice or Saint Kenneth
- Saint Cenydd or (Welsh Saint Keneth, a separate individual from above)
- Kenneth I of Scotland
- Kenneth II of Scotland
- Kenneth III of Scotland
- Kenneth Alford, composer
- Kenneth Amis, tuba player
- Kenneth Arrow, Nobel Peace Prize winner for Economics, 1972
- Kenneth Baker, UK Home Secretary
- Kenneth Bianchi, one of the Hillside Stranglers
- Kenneth Bigley, contractor, beheaded on television in Iraq
- Kenneth E. Boulding, economist
- Kenneth Bowersox, astronaut
- Kenneth Box, British track and field sprinter
- Kenneth Lee Boyd, murderer
- Kenneth Branagh, Shakespearean and film actor
- Kenneth Burke, American literary theorist and philosopher
- Kenneth Calman, English chief medical officer
- Kenneth Carpenter, paleontologist
- Kenneth Clark, English art historian
- Kenneth Clark (psychologist)
- Kenneth Clarke, Chancellor of the Exchequer
- Kenneth Cole (designer), clothing designer
- Kenneth Colley, actor
- Kenneth R. Conklin, activist
- Kenneth Connor, British comedic actor
- Kenneth Cope, actor
- Kenneth Cope (musician), Mormon music composer
- Kenneth C. Davis, author
- Kenneth K. K. Downing, guitarist
- Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, American R&B singer
- Kenneth Fearing, American poet
- Kenneth Feinberg, attorney
- John Kenneth Galbraith, economist
- Kenneth Gamble, songwriter and producer
- Kenneth Gergen, American psychologist
- Kenneth R. Giddens, broadcaster
- Kenneth C. Griffin, billionaire
- Kenneth E. Hagin, Pentecostal minister
- Kenneth L. Hale, linguist
- Kenneth Halliwell, lover and murderer of Joe Orton
- Kenneth Ham, astronaut
- Kenneth Horne, actor and comedian
- Kenneth Hotz, Canadian actor and director
- Kenneth Hughes, an African American professional wrestler
- Kenneth Irons, comic book character in Witchblade
- Kenneth E. Iverson, computer scientist, developed the APL programming language
- Kenneth Kaunda, first President of Zambia
- Kenneth Keating, US Senator
- Kenneth Kendall, newsreader
- Kenneth Kennedy, Australian Winter Olympian
- Jonathan King, born Kenneth George King, pop music mogul
- Kenneth Kitchen, Egyptologist
- Kenneth Koch, poet
- Kenneth Kok, Theme Park Conceptualiser
- Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron
- Kenneth Matthews, English race walker
- Kenneth McKellar, American politician
- Kenneth McKellar (singer), Scottish singer
- Kenneth More, actor, (Genevieve, Reach for the Sky)
- Kenneth O'Keefe, activist
- Kenneth L. Pike, linguist and anthropologist
- Kenneth Rexroth, American poet
- Kenneth Robinson, politician and broadcaster
- Kenneth Rose, royal biographer
- Kenneth Ross, Scottish-American screenwriter of the films The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, etc.
- Kenneth G. Ross, Australian playwright, and screenwriter of the film Breaker Morant
- Kenneth Searight, linguist
- Kenneth "Buzz" Shaw, college chancellor
- Kenneth Starr, special investigator in Monica Lewinsky scandal
- Kenneth M. Taylor, American WWII pilot
- Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet, Canadian businessman, billionaire
- Kenneth Tolon II (b. 1981), college football player
- Kenneth Tynan, the first person to say "fuck" on British television (1965)
- Kenneth Welsh, actor
- Kenneth Whyld, British chess player & author
- Kenneth Williams, comedian and actor
- Kenneth G. Wilson, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1982
[edit] Places
In the United States:
In Australia:
- Kenny, Australian Capital Territory, a planned suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin
[edit] Other
- "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?", a song by R.E.M.
