Meaning and Origin of the Last Name Cunningham

Meaning and Origin of the Last Name Cunningham The Scottish surname  Cunningham  has more than one possible meaning or etymology: A place name from the Cunningham area in the Ayrshire district of Scotland, which, in turn, got its name from the words cunny or coney, meaning rabbit and hame, meaning home (rabbits home).Another possible translation is that the name derived from cuinneag, meaning milk pail along with the Saxon ham, meaning village.An Irish  surname adopted from the Scottish by bearers of Gaelic Ó Cuinneagin, meaning descendant of Cuinneagn, a personal name from the Old Irish personal name Conn, meaning leader or chief. Cunningham is one of the 100 most common  surnames in Scotland. Surname Origin:  Scottish, Irish Alternate Surname Spellings:  Cunnyngham, Konningham, Koenigam, Cunningham, Coonaghan, Counihan, Cunnighan, Kinningham, Kinighan, Kinagam, Kinnegan, Maccunnigan, Conaghan, Kinaghan Where is the Cunningham Surname Found? According to WorldNames public profiler, the Cunningham surname is most commonly found in Ireland, especially the Donegal, North East, and West regions. Outside of Ireland, the Cunningham surname is most popular in Scotland, followed by Australia and New Zealand. The surname distribution maps at Forebears puts the greatest density of people with the Cunningham surname in Northern Ireland, followed by Jamaica, Ireland, and Scotland. Famous People with the Surname Cunningham: Andrew Cunningham - British admiral of World War IIGlenn Cunningham - American distance runnerMerce Cunningham - American dancer and choreographerRedmond Christopher Archer Cunningham -  the only Irishman to receive the Military Cross on D-DayWalter Cunningham - NASA astronaut and  Lunar Module pilot on the first manned Apollo mission (Apollo 7) ​Genealogy Resources for the Surname Cunningham: Cunningham Irish ClanA website devoted to providing historical content on the Cunningham surname and serving as a platform to connect Cunningham individuals around the world. Cunningham Family Genealogy ForumSearch this popular genealogy forum for the Cunningham surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Cunningham surname query. Cunningham Family DNA ProjectThis Y-DNA project includes over 180 members interested in using DNA testing to help prove a family connection between Cunninghams and related surnames when a paper trail cannot be established. FamilySearch - CUNNINGHAM GenealogyExplore over 2.5 million results, including digitized records, database entries, and online family trees for the Cunningham surname and its variations on the FREE FamilySearch website, courtesy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. CUNNINGHAM Surname Family Mailing ListsRootsWeb hosts several free mailing lists for researchers of the Cunningham surname. DistantCousin.com - CUNNINGHAM Genealogy Family HistoryFree databases and genealogy links for the last name Cunningham. The Cunningham Genealogy and Family Tree PageBrowse genealogy records and links to genealogical and historical records for individuals with the Cunningham surname from the website of Genealogy Today. - References: Surname Meanings Origins Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1967. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of Surnames. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick. Dictionary of American Family Names. New York:  Oxford University Press, 2003. MacLysaght, Edward.  Surnames of Ireland. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1989. Smith, Elsdon C. American Surnames. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.