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Name Lineage

    The surname Fennessy

    An Irish patronymic surname, carried by 932 people in the United States.

    3 syllables Soundex F520

    Fennessy: #26,229 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Fennessy #26,229, 932 people Fennessy: #26,229 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#100Jimenez Fennessy #26,229, 932 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Fennessy is more common than 83.8% of them.

    Origin

    Irish origin

    Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Fionnghusa (“descendant of Fionnghus”), a personal name based on fionn (“fair, white”) + gus (“vigor, force”).

    Fennessy is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

    One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 932 people named Fennessy in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 331,272 Americans. That is up 22% since 2000, when the Census counted 762.

    #26,229
    rank among US surnames
    932
    people in 2010
    0.3
    per 100,000 Americans
    +22.3%
    change since 2000 (was #29,261)

    Who is named Fennessy

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    94% of people named Fennessy identified as white (not Hispanic), 4.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.2% as two or more races.

    • White (not Hispanic) 94%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 4.0%
    • Two or more races 1.2%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%
    The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Black, Native American are not shown.

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Variant spellings

    • Fennessey

    Surnames that sound like Fennessy

    Fennessy has the Soundex code F520, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code F520.

    Other Irish surnames

    All 880 Irish surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Fennessy come from?
    Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Fionnghusa (“descendant of Fionnghus”), a personal name based on fionn (“fair, white”) + gus (“vigor, force”).
    How common is the surname Fennessy?
    932 people in the United States had the surname Fennessy in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 331,272 Americans. It ranked 26,229th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Fennessy?
    In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Fennessy identified as white (not Hispanic), and 4.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
    What type of surname is Fennessy?
    Fennessy is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
    Is the surname Fennessy getting more or less common?
    More common. 762 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 932 in 2010, up 22%.
    What are other spellings of Fennessy?
    Fennessey.