Mac An Airchinnigh

Rev Patrick Woulfe

Irish Names and Surnames

1923

Mac an AIRCHINNIGH—VII—MacAnemey, MacEnerney, MacInerney, MacNerhenny, MacNerney, MacNirney, MacNertney, Connerney, Kenerney, Kinerney, Nerhenny, Nerney, Nertney, Nirney, etc.; 'son of the crenagh' (Irish 'airchinneach', steward of church lands); the name of several distinct families, each an offshoot of one or other of the great erenagh families. The Roscommon family of the name, who are apparently a branch of the family of Ó Branáin (which see), were erenaghs of St. Patrick's church at Elphin. The Thomond family, who are numerous in Clare and Limerick, formerly held considerable property in the parish of Ballysally, but lost it in the Cromwellian confiscations. The above is the literary form of this surname, but Mac an Oirchinnigh, often shortened to Mac an Oirchinn, has long been the popular form.

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