Are all Cunningham lines originating in the Scots Clans or are there some Irish and some English?

Question

Apparently there are Irish and Scots-Irish connections. How did you discover which nationality you were if you are now thinking you are in them???

Answer 1

Although it sounds an English Name, Cunningham is actually Scots. Google says "

This distinguished surname recorded in the spellings of Cunningham, and the rarer Irish Conningham and Conaghan, is of early medieval Scottish origin. It is a locational regional name from Cunninghame, one of the territorial divisions of the county of Ayrshire.

Surname Database: Cunningham Last Name Origin

www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Cunningham "

It is however not Gaelic in origin, Ayr is in southern Scotland and therefore in the area of Anglian settlement in Early Mediaeval times. However a lot of Cunninghams do live in the former Gael settled areas, as well as in the Northern Isles (Phil Cunningham the fiddler is from the Shetlands.)

There's no short jumps for you I'm afraid; you'll just have to do a careful search back to find your family start-ups!

Good Luck,

Chris B.