Comments (Meaning / History Only)
This name was created specifically to be a first name- to those of you who believe this is a surname you are mistaken. The name McKenna yes, is a surname and there are many people with this as their surname (Not to say that Mckenna can't be a first name as well but it is also a surname) but the name Makenna is definitely a first name or a middle name but it is not a surname. I understand how a simple minded person could get the two names confused.
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The name Makenna is of Irish, African origin meaning “Happy One” this variation of the name has a positive meaning.
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Etymology & Historical Origin - Makenna. The name Makenna is presumably an altered spelling of the Hawaiian place name Makena. Makena is derived from the Hawaiian word “mak'ke” meaning 'many gathered' and is located on the southwestern side of the island of Maui.
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I named the first Makenna on October 19, 1984 and she has loved the name ever since she was old enough to know it was her name. I have never found a Makenna born before then and I have looked.
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Just as with any surname, there is a history behind it; "mac" was reserved for males ("mac", of course, meaning "son"/"son of") while females bore "nic", which is a contraction of "iníon mhic" (Irish)/"nighean mhic" (Scots Gaelic), meaning "daughter of a son of".
Male form example: Dòmhnall Mac Cionnaich (Donald, son of Kenneth)
Female form example: Fionnghuala Nic Chionnaich (Fionnuala, daughter of a son of Kenneth). The names have been simplified today.
I feel sick to my stomach when McKenzie or McKenna or other such names are used; I know Gaelic and using these surnames as given names is the same as spitting on them. All in all, I see them as very trendy names, going out of style and leaving a slew of children with awkward, insubstantial names that have little chance of aging well.
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Male form example: Dòmhnall Mac Cionnaich (Donald, son of Kenneth)
Female form example: Fionnghuala Nic Chionnaich (Fionnuala, daughter of a son of Kenneth). The names have been simplified today.
I feel sick to my stomach when McKenzie or McKenna or other such names are used; I know Gaelic and using these surnames as given names is the same as spitting on them. All in all, I see them as very trendy names, going out of style and leaving a slew of children with awkward, insubstantial names that have little chance of aging well.
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Makenna derives from the Irish (Gaelic) surname or last name "Mac Kenna" (McKenna). Mac Kenna is typical of names from which the old Gaelic prefixes of Mac and O were not generally dropped in the dark period of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Though almost always written MacKenna, in the spoken language Kenna is quite common and in some places, notably Clare and Kerry, the emphasis is on the final A, with the result that births have been from time to time registered under many synonyms - such as Kennagh, Ginnaw and even Gna. These forms are peculiar to Co. Kerry. By origin, however, the MacKennas do not belong to Munster. They are a branch of the southern Ui Neill but, nevertheless, they are seated in south Leinster, their territory being Truagh (the modern barony of Trough in the northern part of Co. Monaghan). A branch of this sept settled in the parish of Maghera, Co. Down in the seventeenth century. The MacKennas, though "lords of Truagh", were not prominent in mediaeval times. O'Dugan in the "Topographical Poems" says that they were originally Meathmen before they settled in Truagh.
In our modem history nearly all of MacKennas of note have made their name in the field of literature. Niall MacKenna (b. c. 1710) was a Gaelic poet and harper; Theobald MacKenna (d. 1808), secretary of the Catholic Committee in 1791, was a prolific pamphleteer; Andrew MacKenna (1833-1872), was a leading editor and writer in Belfast; Stephen MacKenna (I837-1883), was a novelist; better known as a novelist is another Stephen MacKenna (b. 1888), while a third Stephen MacKenna (1872-1934), was translator of Plotinus and an Irish language enthusiast; Father Lambert MacKenna, S.J. (1870-1956), known for his English-Irish Dictionary, has many Gaelic language publications to his credit.
Nearly all of these were of families belonging to the country around Trough, as also was General John MacKenna (1771-1814), who, after a period of service in the Spanish army, joined Bernard O'Higgins, the "Liberator of Chile", and became an outstanding figure in South America. Patrick MacKenna (b. c. 1765), of Maghera, was an active associate of Wolfe Tone and Napper Tandy: he became a successful shipbuilder at Boulogne. Father Charles MacKenna, P.P. of Donagh, which is in the barony of Trough, was chaplain to the Irish Brigade at Fontenoy in 1745. At the present time probably the best known bearer of the name is Siobhan MacKenna, the Irish actress.
Source:Irish Families by Edward MacLysaght MA, D Litt, MRIA - Irish Academic Press 1991
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Though almost always written MacKenna, in the spoken language Kenna is quite common and in some places, notably Clare and Kerry, the emphasis is on the final A, with the result that births have been from time to time registered under many synonyms - such as Kennagh, Ginnaw and even Gna. These forms are peculiar to Co. Kerry. By origin, however, the MacKennas do not belong to Munster. They are a branch of the southern Ui Neill but, nevertheless, they are seated in south Leinster, their territory being Truagh (the modern barony of Trough in the northern part of Co. Monaghan). A branch of this sept settled in the parish of Maghera, Co. Down in the seventeenth century. The MacKennas, though "lords of Truagh", were not prominent in mediaeval times. O'Dugan in the "Topographical Poems" says that they were originally Meathmen before they settled in Truagh.
In our modem history nearly all of MacKennas of note have made their name in the field of literature. Niall MacKenna (b. c. 1710) was a Gaelic poet and harper; Theobald MacKenna (d. 1808), secretary of the Catholic Committee in 1791, was a prolific pamphleteer; Andrew MacKenna (1833-1872), was a leading editor and writer in Belfast; Stephen MacKenna (I837-1883), was a novelist; better known as a novelist is another Stephen MacKenna (b. 1888), while a third Stephen MacKenna (1872-1934), was translator of Plotinus and an Irish language enthusiast; Father Lambert MacKenna, S.J. (1870-1956), known for his English-Irish Dictionary, has many Gaelic language publications to his credit.
Nearly all of these were of families belonging to the country around Trough, as also was General John MacKenna (1771-1814), who, after a period of service in the Spanish army, joined Bernard O'Higgins, the "Liberator of Chile", and became an outstanding figure in South America. Patrick MacKenna (b. c. 1765), of Maghera, was an active associate of Wolfe Tone and Napper Tandy: he became a successful shipbuilder at Boulogne. Father Charles MacKenna, P.P. of Donagh, which is in the barony of Trough, was chaplain to the Irish Brigade at Fontenoy in 1745. At the present time probably the best known bearer of the name is Siobhan MacKenna, the Irish actress.
Source:Irish Families by Edward MacLysaght MA, D Litt, MRIA - Irish Academic Press 1991
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I named my daughter Makenna. Spelled this way is NOT a surname. It is African or Arabic and it means "one who brings joy".
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Wow drop the "C" and it's a girls name? I don't think so, it doesn't matter how it is spelled it will always be an Irish surname.
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