Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Catharnaigh
‘descendant of Catharnach’, a byname meaning ‘warlike’ or
‘soldier’, and Ó Cearnaigh, from cearnach
‘victorious’. Both surnames were widely distributed and are now very
difficult to disentangle.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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