Where the Cunningham name comes from

Cunningham is a Scottish surname that began as a place name. It comes from Coineagan, the Scottish Gaelic name of a district in Ayrshire. The first part of that name has two possible roots: Old English cyning, meaning "king", or Scottish Gaelic coineanach, meaning "rabbit". The ending is Old English hām, a word for a home, an estate, a hamlet or a village.

As a habitational surname, Cunningham tied a family to that district of Ayrshire. The name also belongs to a Scottish clan, Clan Cunningham.