Does anyone know some history behind the last name "Cunningham"?

Question:

Does anyone know some history behind the last name "Cunningham"?

Where it came from? Where its most popular? What it means?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Luckee,

I did a quick search and found the following for you. I hope this info is the type of thing that you were looking for.

Between the years 1820 to 1892 6094 people with the last name Cunningham immigrated to the US from differing countries.

According to Heritage Quest Online:

1790 Census - 148 Cunninghams with the highest number in Pennsylvania

1800 Census - 240 Cunninghams with the highest number in
Pennsylvania

1810 Census - 420 Cunninghams with the highest number in
Pennsylvania

1820 Census - 648 Cunninghams with the highest number in
Pennsylvania followed very closely by Virginia

1860 Census - 5395 Cunninghams with the highest number in New York

1870 Census - 8316 Cunninghams with the highest number in
New York

1880 Census - 34779 Cunninghams with the highest number in New York

1900 Census - 14387 Cunninghams with the highest number in New York

1910 Census - 18552 Cunninghams with the highest number in New York

1920 Census - 20912 Cunninghams with the highest number in New York

cunningham
Scottish: habitational name from a district in Ayrshire, first recorded in 1153 in the form Cunegan, a Celtic name of uncertain origin. The spellings in -ham, first recorded in 1180, and in -ynghame, first recorded in 1227, represent a gradual assimilation to the English place-name element -ingham.
Irish: surname adopted from Scottish by bearers of Gaelic 㓠Cuinneag㡩n ??descendant of Cuinneag㡮??, a personal name from a double diminutive of the Old Irish personal name Conn meaning ??leader??, ??chief??.

Surname: Cunningham
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. First recorded as "Cunegan" in 1153, the spelling represents a British (pre-Roman) name of uncertain origin. Locational surnames were originally given to the lord of the manor and his descendants, or as a means of identification to those who left their place of origin to settle elsewhere. A Scots family of this name can trace their ancestry back to one Wernebald, a vassal of the Norman nobleman, Hugh de Morville, who obtained the manor of Cunningham from his feudal superior in the early 12th Century. Alexander de Kuningham, noted in the charters of North Berwickshire, witnessed the grant of Kirkbride Largs to the nuns of that shire, in 1190, whilst in 1403, William de Cuningham was vicar of Dundonald. Notable bearers of the name were William Cunningham, fourth Earl of Glencairn and lord high treasurer of Scotland, in 1526; and also Sir Charles Cunningham (1755 - 1834), first lieutenant of the "Hinchingbroke" with Horatio Nelson in 1779. The coat of arms borne by the earls of Glencairn is a silver shield with a black shakefork, the crest being a silver unicorn's head couped, armed gold, and the motto "Over fork over". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard de Cunningham, which was dated 1210, in the "Ancient Records of the Scots Peerage", during the reign of King William of Scotland, known as "The Lion", 1165 - 1214.

Origin Displayed: Scottish

The ancient Scottish kingdom of Dalriada is the home of cunningham family line. Their name comes from the fact that they lived at Cunningham in Ayrshire. However, numerous branches of the Cunningham family spread all over Scotland. Two of the most prominent branches of the Cunningham clan, the Cunninghams of Corsehill and the Cunninghams of Caprington, trace their ancestry back to the medieval era.

Spelling variations of this family name include: Cunningham, Cunninghame, Cunyngham, Cunnyngham, Cunnynghame, Cummingham and many more.

First found in Ayrshire where they were seated from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: John Cunningham, his wife and son, who settled in the Barbados in 1679; and Anthony, Archibald, Arthur, Barnard, Brian, Charles, Cornelius, David, Edward, Francis, Henry, George, James, Jane, John, Joseph, Margaret, Mary, Michael, Patrick, Robert, Thomas Cunningham, wo all arrived in Philadelphia in the first half of the 19th century.