McInerney - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Mac an Airchinnigh
Meaning: “son of the erenagh (church steward)”
Traditional stronghold: Clare
Pronunciation: mack-in-ER-nee; Irish Mac an Airchinnigh: mock on ARR-khin-nee
History of the McInerney name
McInerney is Mac an Airchinnigh, 'son of the erenagh', the erenagh being the hereditary lay steward who managed church lands and revenues in the medieval Irish church. The name arose in Thomond, and the McInerneys of County Clare, of Dalcassian stock, were much the most important family so called; Clare and Limerick remain its heartland to this day. Because the office of erenagh existed all over Ireland the surname appeared independently elsewhere, notably in Connacht, where it was sometimes re-anglicised as Nerney or Kinnerney. Emigration carried the name widely, and it is now well known in Britain, America and Australia.
Variants: McEnerney · McNerney · Nerney · Kinnerney
Famous bearers of the name
- Monica McInerney - Australian bestselling novelist of Irish descent.
- Jay McInerney - American novelist, author of Bright Lights, Big City.
- Lisa McInerney - Galway-born writer who won the Women's Prize for Fiction for The Glorious Heresies.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: O'Brien · Kennedy · Quinn · McDonnell · McMahon · Boland · Keane · Hogan