The genteel Catholic tenant-farmer in Charles Kickham's Knocknagow or The Homes of Tipperary was Maurice Kearney, "plump" Mrs Kearney being a sister of Sir Garrett Butler. Ballinaclash Cottage where the Kearney family lived was described as "commodious, if not handsome". The Kearneys spoke correct English, though betimes in danger of slipping, as when Mr Kearney was explaining to Mr Lowe, "My Uncle Dan played the fid- violin". Kickham followed the fashion then encouraged by English publishers in Irish authors, to represent the speech of the Irish peasant phonetically. "Of" became "uv"; "with" was "wud"; "ask" became "ax".
Kickham's rendering of rural speech, however, rarely matched that of Somerville and Ross. "Edith (Somerville), who had an ear for Irish servants' amusing phrases, found the Negroes (during a visit to the United States) equally delightful and has preserved a coloured groom's delicate warning to a hard riding mistress offered during a check in a strenuous woodland hunt: 'Mis' Mary, Mam, yo' done tore yore breeches clear tru' to de meat'." (Maurice Collis, Somerville & Ross: A Biography).
The name Kearney is evenly distributed throughout the four provinces of Ireland; the alternative spelling Carney, however, is almost confined to Connacht, particularly Co Mayo. This name derived from ╙ Cearnaigh (presumably from "cearnach", victorious), a branch of the U∅ Fiachrach whose territory was Moynulla and Balla in Co Mayo.
The Dalcassian O'Kearneys, who migrated to Cashel in early times, are also ╙ Cearnaigh. (O) Kearney was also the Anglicised form of both ╙ Catharnaigh and ╙ Ceithearnaigh.
Annβla Rioghachta ╔ireann/Annals of the Four Masters notes the death in 1096 of Eoghan ╙ Cearnaigh, airchinneach of Derry, and in 1106 of Muircheartaigh ╙ Cearnaigh, chief lector of the Irish. Many of the over 40 (O) Kearneys listed in The Irish Fiants of the Tudor Sovereigns (1522-1603) appear to have been ╙ Cearnaigh. From 1550 to 1603 they were to be found in counties Limerick, Mayo, Kerry, Cork and Tipperary. Some Tipperary places - although no Ballinaclash - where (O) Kearneys were listed were: Ballyduagh (parish of St Patrick's Rock); Clonfinglass (parish of Killardry); Lacken (one each in parishes of Cordangan, Rathglynn and Neddans); Holy Cross, Ballytarsny (parish of Ballysheehan); Bellahodrohid (?) and Carrickmagriffin.
Sir Richard Carney was Ulster King of Arms in 1685. One of those who supported King James I's few that the garrison at Derry in 1690 should be starved into surrender was the Chevalier de Carney ("of Carney" - could it be Carney, the name of a village in Co Sligo?).
William Bedell (1571-1642), bishop of Kilmore, was remembered for his deploring the oppression of poor Catholics and for being the first to have the Old Testament translated to Irish. This was published in 1685 and known as "Bedell's Bible". An account dating some time between 1559 and 1569 notes the payment of £66 13s 4d to the archbishop of Armagh and the bishop of Meath in payment for the "printing of Proclamations and binding of Books several times", as well as for "making of Caracter to print the New Testament in Irish".
The same account notes the payment, to John Carneye, of £22 13s 8d "for thirish printe . . . for the full furnishing of stamps, formes and matrises necessary for the printing in the Irish tongue of CC (200) Catechisms".
In the new charters of King James, (O) Kearneys were town clerks in Dublin, Carlow, Fethard and Blessington. Patrick Kearney was named an alderman in Cashel, wherein John, Paul Snr and Paul Jnr were burgesses. And Dennis Kearney was one of the representatives of the borough of Cashel in the parliament of Dublin (1689).
Owners of Land of One Acre and Upwards (1876) shows 40 - mainly modest - Kearney holdings in 20 of Ireland's 32 counties, nine in Leinster, largely in Co Kilkenny. The largest holdings were 2,374 acres at Milltown House, Clonmellon, Co Westmeath, and 2,107 acres at Blanchfield House, Gowran, Co Kilkenny. There was a single Carney owner, in Co Cavan.
Telephone directories south of the Border show 1,173 Kearney entries, 311 Carneys and a single ╙ Cearnaigh. These are fairly evenly distributed, but strongest in the 01, 04 and 05 areas. North of the Border there are around 280 Kearney entries and 25 Carneys. Ballykearney names a townland in Co Cork, and Ballycarney names townlands in counties Wexford and Limerick as well as a townland in Co Carlow.