1,371 Global KIDNEY Family Members

KIDNEY Family History

Recorded as Kidney, Kydney, Kidder, and Kidner, this most interesting surname is Anglo-Irish. If Irish it is now chiefly to be found in County Cork, as an anglicized form by pseudo translation of the Old Gaelic name O'Dubhain. It would seem that the Gaelic word 'dubhan' translates as kidney, and as a result of 16th century misinterpretation in South West Cork some of the O'Dubhain's were called Kidney, a form which remains today! Correctly the surname translates as 'The male descendant of the black haired or (swarthy one)' from "dubh", meaning black. Irish family names are generally taken from the heads of tribes, or from some illustrious warrior, and are usually prefixed by O' or 'Mac', meaning 'son of' ...