# Kearney (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/kearney/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Irish.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Irish |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 20,706 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,730 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 14,911 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.9% (19,938 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Irish Ó Ceithearnaigh.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Kearney in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 75% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 20% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.2% |
| Two or more races | 1.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Kearney in the United States.

## People named Kearney

- Mat Kearney, American musician
- Denis Kearney, 19th-century American demagogue
- Patrick Kearney, American serial killer
- Thomas Henry Kearney, American botanist (1874-1956)

## Similar surnames

Kern, Karn, Kerney, Kerin, Krohn, Karim, Korn, Kerwin, Karam, Krone, Krahn, Kirwan.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.