Cerney Family History

Americanized form of Czech and Slovak Černý ‘black dark’ (see Cerny). Americanized form of Slovak and Slovenian Černej: nickname for someone with black hair or a dark complexion (see Cernak).

English: habitational name from North and South Cerney or Cerney Wick, all in Gloucestershire, which are named for the Churn river on which they stand + Old English ēa ‘stream’.

The river name is of Celtic origin. This surname is very rare or perhaps even extinct in Britain.