Matt--
I'm going to quote something I saved some time ago that might explain where the differences originated. --------------------------------------------
Irish Surname Search (
Mac)
Kenna"MacKenna is one of the few names from which the old Gaelic prefixes of mac and O were not generally dropped in the dark period of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Though almost always written
MacKenna, in the spoken language
Kenna is quite common and in some places, notably
Clare and
Kerry, the emphasis in on the final A, with the result that births have been from time to time registered under many synonyms - such as Kennagh, Ginnaw, and even Gna. These forms are peculiar to Co. Kerry. By origin, however, the MacKennas do not belong to
Munster. They are a branch of the southern Ui
Neill but, nevertheless, they are seated in south
Ulster, their territory being Truagh (the modern barony of Trough in the northern part of Co. Monaghan). A branch of this sept settled in the parish of Maghera, Co. Down in the seventeenth century. The MacKennas, though "lords of Truagh", were not prominent in mediaeval times. O'Dugan in the "Topographical Poems" says that they were originally
Meath men before they settled in Truagh. In our modern history nearly all of MacKennas of note have made their name in the field of literature. Niall
MacKenna (b. c. 1710) was a Gaelic poet and harper:
Theobald Mac Kenna (d. 1808), secretary of the Catholic Committee in 1791, was a prolific pamphleteer; Andrew
MacKenna (1833-1872), was a leading editor and writer in Belfast; Stephen
MacKenna (1837-1883), was a novelist; better known as a novelist is another Stephen
MacKenna (b. 1888), while a third Stephen
MacKenna (1872-1934) was translator of Plontius and an
Irish language enthusiast; Father
Lambert MacKenna, S.J. (1870-1956), known for his English-Irish Dictionary, has many Gaelic language publications to his credit. Nearly all of these were of families belonging to the country around Trough, as also was General John
MacKenna (1771-1814), who, after a period of service in the
Spanish army, joined Bernard O'Higgins, the "Liberator of Chile" and became an outstanding figure in South
America. Patrick
MacKenna (b. c. 1765), of Maghera, was an active associate of
Wolfe Tone and
Napper Tandy: he became a successful shipbuilders at Boulogne. Father Charles
MacKenna, P.P. of Donagh, which is in the barony of Trough, was chaplain to the
Irish Brigade at Fontenoy in 1745. At the present time probably the best known bearer of the name is Siobhan
MacKenna, the
Irish actress."
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So it appears that the pronunciation is different even in Ireland, depending upon what area you are from.
Do you get a lot of requests to repeat your name or to spell it for people? I surely do.
Lee in
Tennessee