McKenna

Origin of the McKenna Name

McKenna is the anglicised form of Mac Cionaoith, meaning son of Cionaodh. The personal name Cionaodh — anglicised as Kenneth — was borne by several early Irish kings, including Cináed mac Ailpín, the ninth-century king of Scotland who united the Picts and Scots. The name combines cion (affection, esteem) and aodh (fire, the sun god Aodh), making it a name of considerable prestige in the Gaelic world.

The Mac Cionaoith of County Monaghan were an entirely different family from the various Mac Aonghusa or other Ulster septs with similar anglicisations. The Monaghan McKennas were lords of Truagh, a barony in the north of the county, and were a significant power within the Ulster Gaelic order.

County Distribution

Monaghan — the ancestral territory

The McKenna territory of Truagh in north County Monaghan was their core domain. They held this territory as lords subordinate to the MacMahons, who were the dominant power in Monaghan before the Plantation. The McKennas were chiefs of Truagh, a barony whose name appears in records as early as the twelfth century. Monaghan remains the county most strongly associated with the McKenna name.

Tyrone

The frontier between Monaghan and County Tyrone was permeable, and McKenna families established themselves in south Tyrone in significant numbers. The O'Neill lordship of Tyrone dominated the political landscape of Ulster, and the McKennas of Truagh operated within its sphere of influence.

Cavan

County Cavan, the southern county of Ulster, received McKenna families who drifted south from Monaghan. The border between Monaghan and Cavan runs through territory that was traditionally fluid in its ethnic and family composition, and McKenna is found throughout east and north Cavan.

McKenna Through Irish History

Chiefs of Truagh

The McKennas were chiefs of the barony of Truagh in north Monaghan for several centuries before the Plantation. They held this territory as subordinate lords within the MacMahon lordship of Oriel. Though not among the great Ulster dynasties like the O'Neills or O'Donnells, the McKennas were a family of genuine local power with their own inauguration site and customary rights.

The Plantation of Ulster

The Plantation of Ulster (1610) transformed County Monaghan fundamentally. The MacMahons, McKennas, and other Monaghan families were dispossessed of their ancestral territories. Monaghan was planted differently from the other escheated counties — the Gaelic Irish were retained on some lands as tenants rather than expelled entirely — but the McKennas' status as lords of Truagh was extinguished. They survived as farming families on their reduced holdings.

Nineteenth century and emigration

County Monaghan suffered severe population loss during the Famine years. McKenna families emigrated in large numbers to the United States, Canada, and Britain. The strong Ulster Presbyterian tradition in Monaghan meant that emigration from the county included both Catholic and Protestant McKennas.

McKenna in the Diaspora

McKenna is widely distributed across the Irish diaspora. In the United States, the name is particularly common in the northeast and in cities with significant Ulster Irish populations. The Ulster Scots emigration of the eighteenth century brought McKenna families to Pennsylvania and the Appalachian frontier before the Famine emigration added larger numbers to the northeast cities.

Australia has significant McKenna communities in New South Wales and Victoria. Canada — particularly Ontario and Quebec — received large numbers of Monaghan emigrants. Scotland, especially Glasgow, has a strong McKenna presence from Ulster emigration.

Researching McKenna Ancestry

McKenna research should focus on County Monaghan, particularly the barony of Truagh in the north of the county. The Monaghan County Museum and Archive holds local historical records. PRONI in Belfast covers the whole Ulster province. IrishGenealogy.ie has civil and parish records. Griffith's Valuation shows McKenna households concentrated in Truagh and throughout Monaghan.

The Irish Surname Finder at synpromedia.com covers the origin and county distribution of over 100 Irish surnames and connects researchers with the Love Ireland newsletter — 64,000 subscribers covering Irish history, genealogy, and heritage in depth.