Explore the Family Name Henney

The meaning of Henney

1. English: in eastern England, a habitational name from Henny in Soham (Cambridgeshire), Great and Little Henny (Essex), or (less likely) Henney, a lost place in Cambridge (Cambridgeshire), all from Old English hēah (dative hēan) ‘high’ + ēg ‘island, land partly surrounded by water’. In addition, Henney may also be a variant of Hanney, a habitational name from Hanny Combe (Somerset) or from East and West Hanney (Berkshire), named with Old English hana ‘cock, male bird’ + ēg. Some names have early spellings alternating between -en- and -an-, which account for Henney and Hanney as variant surname forms. The early occurrence of the surname in Staffordshire, where it is largely concentrated in modern times, implies migration of the Cambridgeshire or Essex name westward, unless there is another but unidentified source for it in Staffordshire or a nearby county. 2. English and Scottish: variant of Hannah. 3. English: variant of Hanney. 4. Irish: variant of Heaney, from Ó hÉanna. 5. German: rare variant Henny, or an Americanized form of its cognate Hennig.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.