The conway Surname
conway Name Meaning and History
- Irish: Anglicized form of various Gaelic names, such as Mac Conmidhe (see McNamee); Ó Connmhaigh or Mac Connmhaigh (‘descendant (or son) of Connmhach’, a personal name derived from connmach ‘head-smashing’), also Anglicized as Conoo; and Ó Conbhuide (‘descendant of Cú Bhuidhe’, a personal name composed of the elements cú ‘hound’ + buidhe ‘yellow’).
- Welsh: habitational name from Conwy formerly Conway, a fortified town on the coast of North Wales, itself named for the river on which it stands.
- Scottish: habitational name from Conway in the parish of Beauly, recorded c.1215 as Coneway and in 1291 as Convathe. It probably gets its name from Gaelic coinmheadh ‘billet’, ‘free quarters’, being so named as the district in which the local lord’s household troops were billeted.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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