O'Kennedy

This article is about the Irish clan. "Kennedy Clan" redirects here. For the Scottish clan, see Clan Kennedy. For the American political clan that is the successor of said family, see Kennedy family. For other uses, see Kennedy (disambiguation).

Kennedy
Ó Cinnéide

The three helmets on the coat of arms represent the Fionn, Donn and Ruadh branches.
CountryKingdom of Ormond
Titles
  • Lords of Ormond
Cadet branchesÓ Cinnéide Fionn
Ó Cinnéide Donn
Ó Cinnéide Ruadh

The O'Kennedy family (Irish: Ó Cinnéide), sometimes Kennedy, were an Irish royal dynasty, a sept of the Dál gCais, founded in the Middle Ages who were Kings of Ormond. Their founder was the nephew of High King Brian Boru (1002–1014). The name Cinnéide belonged to Brian Boru's father Cennétig mac Lorcáin, King of Thomond, in the tenth century AD.[1] (Brian Boru was an Ard Rí or High King of Ireland). The Kennedys did not descend directly from Brian Boru, but from Cinnéide's eldest son Donncuan. Donncuan's son Mahon was the first to call himself Ó Cinnéide which is Irish for grandson of Cinnéide.

According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the O'Kennedys were one of the chiefly families of the Dal gCais or Dalcassians who were a tribe of the Erainn who were the second wave of Celts to settle in Ireland between about 500 and 100 BC.[2]

Placenames such as Killokennedy in Thomond are indicative of their longstanding presence in the region.

  1. ^ House of Brian Boru. http://houseofbrianboru.blogspot.com.au/p/brian-boru.html
  2. ^ Cairney, C. Thomas (1989). Clans and Families of Ireland and Scotland. Jefferson, North Carolina, United States, and London: McFarland & Company. pp. 61–69. ISBN 0899503624.