Kearns — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó Céirín
Meaning: 'descendant of Céirín (little dark one, from ciar)'
Traditional stronghold: Mayo
Pronunciation: kurnz; Irish Ó Céirín: oh KAY-reen
History of the Kearns name
Ó Céirín derives from a diminutive of ciar, meaning dark or black, the same root that gives Kieran. The sept belonged to the Uí Fiachrach and held lands in County Mayo, and the name later spread through Connacht and the midlands, taking the anglicised forms Kearns, Kerins, Kierans and Kearon in different districts. In Kerry the Kerins spelling is well known through Charlie Kerins, the republican executed in 1944. Like many west of Ireland names it was carried in great numbers to Britain and America during and after the Famine, where Kearns became the settled spelling.
Variants: Kerins · Kierans · Kearon
Famous bearers of the name
- Linda Kearns — Sligo-born nurse who ran a field hospital in the 1916 Rising, later a founding member of Fianna Fáil and a senator.
- Robert Kearns — Irish-American engineer who invented the intermittent windscreen wiper and famously fought the car giants over the patent.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Walsh · Burke · Moran · Higgins · Conway · Costello · Jennings · Browne