Kenneth is a male given name.

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 Kenneth's Day is October 11. English nicknames include Kenny and Ken, the latter also being a Japanese name meaning "sword."

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.

People

• 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
• Ken Anderson (wrestler), professional wrestler
• Ken Anderson (football player), American quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals
• Kenny Anderson, basketball player
• 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 & philosopher
• Ken Burns, American documentary filmmaker
• Kenneth Calman, english chief medical officer
• Ken Caminiti, Major League Baseball player
• Ken Campbell (actor), writer and actor
• Ken Campbell (evangelist), evangelist
• Norman Kenneth Campbell, Canadian composer & tv producer
• Kenneth Carpenter, Paleontologist
• Kenny Chesney, American singer
• Ken Clark (actor), actor
• Kenneth Clark, (Lord Clark of Civilisation)
• Kenneth Clark (psychologist), psychologist
• Kenneth Clarke, Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Kenny Clarke, jazz drummer
• Kenneth Cole, 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
• Kenny Dalglish, Scottish Footballer
• Ken Doane, American professional wrestler
• Kenneth "K.K." Downing, guitarist
• Kenneth Edmonds, American R&B singer also known as Babyface.
• Kenny Everett, disc-jockey and comedian
• Kenneth Fearing, American poet
• Kenneth Feinberg, attorney
• Kenny G, saxophonist
• John Kenneth Galbraith, economist
• Kenneth Gamble, songwriter and producer
• Kenneth Gergen, American psychologist
• Kenneth George King, Jonathan King, disgraced pop music mogul
• Kenneth George, Computer expert
• 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
• Ken Ham, creationist
• Kenneth Ham, astronaut
• Ken "Hawk" Harrelson, Major League Baseball player and broadcaster
• Ken Hendricks, billionaire, president Hendricks Group
• Ken Holtzman, Major League Baseball player
• Kenneth Horne, actor and comedian
• Ken Hughes, writer and director of films, including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
• Kenny Hughes, an actor, dancer, director and writer
• Kenneth Hughes, an African American professional wrestler
• Kenneth Irons, comic book character in Witchblade
• Kenneth E. Iverson, computer scientist, developed APL
• Kenneth Kaunda, first President of Zambia
• Kenneth Keating, US Senator
• Kenneth Kendall, newsreader
• Kenneth George Kennedy, Australian Winter Olympian
• Kenneth Kitchen, Egyptologist
• Kenneth Koch, poet
• Kenneth Lay, Former CEO of Enron
• Kenny Layne, professional wrestler.
• Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London
• Kenneth Matthews, English race walker
• Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick, South Park character
• Kenneth McKellar, American politician
• Kenneth McKellar (singer), Scottish singer
• Kenneth Mars, actor
• Kenny Mayne, American sports journalist
• Kenneth More, actor, (Genevieve, Reach for the Sky)
• Ken Morrison, English supermarket CEO
• Kenny Muhammad, beatbox artist
• Kenneth O'Keefe, activist
• Kenneth L. Pike, linguist & anthropologist
• Kenneth Rexroth, American poet
• Kenneth Robinson, politician and broadcaster
• Kenneth (Kenny) Rogers, American singer
• Kenneth Rose, royal biographer
• Kenneth Ross, Scottish-American screenwriter of the film The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, etc.
• Kenneth G. Ross, Australian playwright, and screenwriter of the film Breaker Morant, etc.
• Ken Russell, film director and actor
• Kenneth (Ken) Rutherford, New Zealand cricketer
• Ken Saro-Wiwa, writer and political activist
• Kenneth "Buzz" Shaw, college Chancellor
• Kenneth Searight, linguist
• Ken Spreitzer, computer programmer
• Kenneth Starr, special investigator in Monica Lewinsky scandal
• Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet Canadian businessman, billionaire
• Kenneth Thompson, author of the original Unix operating system
• Kenneth Tynan, the first person to say "fuck" on British television (1965)
• Kenneth Welsh, actor
• Kenneth Williams, comedian and actor
• Kenneth G. Wilson, winner of Nobel Prize in Physics 1982
• Kenneth Whyld, British chess player & author

Places

• Kenneth City, Florida
• Kenneth, Minnesota
• Kenny, Australian Capital Territory a planned suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin

Other

• "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" is the name of a song by R.E.M. that came from an incident in 1986 when Dan Rather was assaulted by the mentally-disturbed William Tager, who shouted "Kenneth, what's the frequency?" while repeatedly kicking Rather.

Kenny apparently the "joke name" name in many US sitcoms and is usually the comic character or the recipient of many jokes. Kenny in South Park, Kenny in My name is Earl are a couple of examples. The phase "alright Kenny" is a popular phrase in eastern Pennsylvania and is often used in refence to Kenny the Chump, another "joke Kenny".

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