Kerwin as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Kerwin

What is the meaning of the name Kerwin ?

The baby name Kerwin is a boy name , 2 syllables long and is pronounced KUR-win.

Kerwin is Irish in Origin.

Kerwin is an Anglicized form of Irish Ó Ciardhubháin, the hereditary surname meaning descendant of Ciardhubhán. The root language is Irish Gaelic, and the earliest native form preserves the patronymic particle Ó with the genitive of Ciardhubhán. That personal name combines ciar, dark or dusky, with dubh, black, plus the diminutive suffix -án, giving a literal sense of little dark-black one.

As a family name, Kirwan and Kerwin are especially associated with County Galway, where the Kirwans belonged to the mercantile Tribes of Galway and produced civic and ecclesiastical figures in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Spelling varied in English records, including Kirwin, Kerwan, O’Kirwan, and Kerovan. As a given name it is chiefly modern and surname-based; U.S. records show masculine use from the early twentieth century, with a modest mid-century peak in 1959 and lower registration since.