Origin
It is an anglicized (Scots) form of either the Pictish name Ciniod or the Goidelic name Cináed, often thought to mean "fire-head" or "born of fire" (see Áed), but ultimately derives from a shared prototype with Kennedy; Cunedagius, originally Cornish (then indistinct from other Brythonic languages)--after which was carried north to Valentia and borne by Cunedda (Latin Cunetacius), founder of Gwynedd. Its popularity among the Britons also led to another form in Welsh Cenydd or Cennydd (the name of a Welsh hermit saint who traditionally lived in the 6th century).
Similar names have also been anglicized as Kenneth, including the Gaelic Coinneach ("Handsome or Sexy one"; e.g. Cainnech of Aghaboe) and the Old English Cyneath may mean "royal oath", used as a non-Celtic alternative etymology.
English nicknames include Kenny, Kenn and Ken, the latter also being a Japanese name.
Read more about this topic: Kenneth
Famous quotes containing the word origin:
“The real, then, is that which, sooner or later, information and reasoning would finally result in, and which is therefore independent of the vagaries of me and you. Thus, the very origin of the conception of reality shows that this conception essentially involves the notion of a COMMUNITY, without definite limits, and capable of a definite increase of knowledge.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
“We have got rid of the fetish of the divine right of kings, and that slavery is of divine origin and authority. But the divine right of property has taken its place. The tendency plainly is towards ... “a government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich.””
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“The origin of storms is not in clouds,
our lightning strikes when the earth rises,
spillways free authentic power:
dead John Brown’s body walking from a tunnel
to break the armored and concluded mind.”
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)