Cooney (from O'Cooney, Gaelic: "O'Cuana") is a common Irish surname. In various forms, the name dates back to the 12th century. It is first associated with County Tyrone then in the province of Connaught, in the townland of Ballycooney, Loughrea barony, in County Galway, then to County Clare, County Mayo, and Dublin.

Alternate spellings are O'Conney, Coony, Coonahan, Coonihan, Coonan, Coumey, (Coomey) and Cooihan. Alternate spellings of O'Cuana are Cuana, Coona, O Cuanaic, and O'Cuanaich. Some with the name, Coonifer, Coonihan and Coumey, the latter mainly of County Cork, have been changed into Cooney.

People named Cooney

• Adam Cooney - AFL football player
• Andy Cooney
• Cooney Weiland - inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1971
• Gerry Cooney - famous boxer
• James Cooney - (July 28, 1848–November 16, 1904 was an Irish-American lawyer
• Sergeant James C. Cooney - Struck gold in southwest New Mexico
• Joan Ganz Cooney
• Lin Sue Cooney
• Mary Cooney - an Irish poetess
• Neil Cooney - a Veteran Retired Skateboarder
• Patrick Cooney - Irish politician
• Philip Cooney - a former Bush administration official with ties to the energy business lobby (American Petroleum Institute)
• Ray Cooney - a British playwright
• Michael Cooney - another British playwright, son of previous
• Walter R. Cooney, Jr. - Astronomer

Notes

• John O'Dugan cites O'Cuanaich or O'Cooney as a clan of Tir Eogan.
• John O'Hart lists O'Cooney, along with O'Bailey as a chief of Clan Fergus, among the Irish clans of Tir Owen.
• The name Dearmid O'Cuana can be found in the Diocese of Elphin, is found as the "great priest of Elphin."
• In the census of 1659 by Sir William Petty, "Cooney (9) is found as a principal name in the Upper & Lower Tulla, Clare, and by 1890 it is found centered in Mayon and Dublin.^[1]
• Cooney is used in Co. Cork as a variant of the north Munster name O Cuanachain, normally anglicized Counihan. (Source: GoIreland)
• Cooney, New Mexico was a mining town where a raid by local Apaches killed a number of residents.

References

• Rootsweb.com
• GoIreland.com
• The Book of Irish Families Great & Small

Michael C. O'Laughin, 1997 Irish Genealogical Foundation

• Irish Families: Their Names, Arms, and Origins

Edward MacLysaght, Irish Academic Press Limited 1991

• St. Cuana

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