Comments (Meaning / History Only)
Kennedy in all its many versions has been described as meaning ugly head or helmet head. Not too many people named Kennedy would be happy with what this appears to mean. But in an historical context the Kennedys were warriors who protected their masters and therefore one translation of the name is fierce-looking. That makes far more sense in the modern context. If one needed protection from any attacker it would have been good to have your "guard" be fierce-looking thereby helping to avoid harmful encounters.
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May also be an Anglicized form of Gennadius.
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Here is a link from Wiki:
"There have been several different etymologies given for the surname. One is that the name is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic Ó Ceannéidigh meaning "grandson of Ceannéidigh". Ceannéidigh is a given name derived from the Gaelic words ceann, meaning "head", and éidigh, meaning "ugly".
Kennedy (surname) - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_(surname)"
-- As I share this name in my surname, I'd like to add to the comments above that suggest that it means "ugly head" or "helmet-head" which is my understanding. Many may find this repugnant or a bizarre idea for a child's name, if not given some context. For the time — several centuries ago - it is unlikely that it ever referred to the beauty, or lack of beauty in the family or clan that bore that name, or for that matter, the shape of anyone's head. The "ugly head" or "helmet-head" in question was an honorific referring to a spirit-animal, and contemporary alpha predator of the time: the European wolf, now extinct. So this is like someone being named "Hagrid, the Horrible", or "Wolfgang" - power is bestowed to the bearer by the connotation. So the helmet in question would have been a wolf-skull, or adorned with such, and further the "horrible" or "ugly" head would have provided gravitas to the bearer, being the name-sake of the only rightly feared animal of the time, (as the European bear had gone extinct either during, or shortly after the end of the much earlier period at the end of the last glacial age in Ireland, Scotland and Northern England). -- Aside from all that on the Scottish-side, it is a Highland clan name of long standing, and some controversy - having been known to on the one hand, for having "fried a fryer" on a grill for the help said fryer was giving the poor in their quest for redress for having been kicked off their land so that the "Laird" (head of the clan) could partake of the newly profitable activity of sheep raising. -- On the other hand, another part of the family some years later were found to be supporting that game gal: Joan of Arc, in her fight with the perfidious English (it did not work out well).
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"There have been several different etymologies given for the surname. One is that the name is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic Ó Ceannéidigh meaning "grandson of Ceannéidigh". Ceannéidigh is a given name derived from the Gaelic words ceann, meaning "head", and éidigh, meaning "ugly".
Kennedy (surname) - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_(surname)"
-- As I share this name in my surname, I'd like to add to the comments above that suggest that it means "ugly head" or "helmet-head" which is my understanding. Many may find this repugnant or a bizarre idea for a child's name, if not given some context. For the time — several centuries ago - it is unlikely that it ever referred to the beauty, or lack of beauty in the family or clan that bore that name, or for that matter, the shape of anyone's head. The "ugly head" or "helmet-head" in question was an honorific referring to a spirit-animal, and contemporary alpha predator of the time: the European wolf, now extinct. So this is like someone being named "Hagrid, the Horrible", or "Wolfgang" - power is bestowed to the bearer by the connotation. So the helmet in question would have been a wolf-skull, or adorned with such, and further the "horrible" or "ugly" head would have provided gravitas to the bearer, being the name-sake of the only rightly feared animal of the time, (as the European bear had gone extinct either during, or shortly after the end of the much earlier period at the end of the last glacial age in Ireland, Scotland and Northern England). -- Aside from all that on the Scottish-side, it is a Highland clan name of long standing, and some controversy - having been known to on the one hand, for having "fried a fryer" on a grill for the help said fryer was giving the poor in their quest for redress for having been kicked off their land so that the "Laird" (head of the clan) could partake of the newly profitable activity of sheep raising. -- On the other hand, another part of the family some years later were found to be supporting that game gal: Joan of Arc, in her fight with the perfidious English (it did not work out well).
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Kennedy also means "helmet-headed" and "ugly-headed". I don't like the second definition, but a headstrong little girl is very cute.
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Another meaning for this name is "Chief With Helmet" (Irish). And a different spelling is "Kenadie".
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