Despite its name, Tirkennedy has nothing to do with the modern personal name of Kennedy, which derives from
Cennétig (ugly/rough headed). Rather it takes its name from the epithet of Fergus son of Cremthann, the eponymous ancestor of the
Ui Chremthainn, the predominant tribe of the western
Airgialla. Fergus lived in the late fifth century AD. He was known as
Cennfhota (long-head). His descendants became known as the
Ui Chennfhota, with the kingdom of
Tir Cennfhota receiving its first mention in the Annals in 1349. Chieftains of Tirkennedy at the beginning of the Maguire’s reign over Fermanagh in the late 1200s were the Magunshinan, originally Mac Uinsionnain but anglicised to Nugent. The Devine () sept were cited as
Lords of Tirkennedy, and were a leading Fermanagh sept up to and including the fifteenth century, when the O'Neills broke their power to the north and the Maguires to the south. Under the Maguires, the MacManus sept became hereditary supervisors of the fisheries in Tirkennedy. The early Anglicisation of "Tircannada" recorded in the 1609 escheated counties map is claimed as being more accurate than the present form of "Tirkennedy". ==List of main settlements==