Abernethy (surname)
Abernethy is a surname whose origins link to a Scottish clan that descends from Orm de Abernethy, a grandson of Gille Míchéil, Earl of Fife that presumably settled at Abernethy, Perth and Kinross.
The name is of non-Gaelic Pictish origin, from a period when the Caledonian Welsh or Brytons controlled these lands. 'Aber' is modern Welsh for 'estuary' or 'confluence of rivers'.
Notable people who have this surname include:
- Alan Abernethy, Irish bishop
- Alexander de Abernethy, Scottish magnate
- Alister Abernethy, New Zealand politician
- Arthur Talmage Abernethy, journalist, theologian, poet; first North Carolina Poet Laureate
- Bob Abernethy, American television journalist
- Bob Abernethy (footballer), Australian rules footballer
- Bruce Abernethy, Australian rules football player
- Bruce Abernethy (cricketer), New Zealand former cricketer
- Charles Laban Abernethy, American politician
- Darrell Abernethy, American Associate Director for Drug Safety at the Food and Drug Administration
- George Abernethy, American politician
- Georgina Abernethy, New Zealand suffragist and leader of Wesleyan women
- Glen Abernethy, American politician
- Hugh Abernethy, Scottish former professional snooker player
- Haymitch Abernathy, fictional character in the Hunger Games series of books and novels
- James Abernethy, British civil engineer
- Jim Abernethy, Australian rules footballer
- John Abernethy (judge), former State Coroner of New South Wales
- John Abernethy (minister), Irish Presbyterian minister and church leader
- John Abernethy (surgeon) FRS, English surgeon
- LeRoy Abernethy, American college football player
- Liam Abernethy, Irish hurler
- Lord Abernethy, hereditary title in the Peerage of Scotland
- John Cameron, Lord Abernethy, a Senator of the College of Justice of Scotland
- Meg of Abernethy, Scottish musician
- Milton A. Abernethy, American journalist, magazine editor, business owner, and stockbroker
- Moira Abernethy, South African swimmer
- Ralph Abernathy, American civil rights activist and minister
- Robert Abernethy, Australian swimmer
- Robert J. Abernethy, American entrepreneur and philanthropist
- Rod Abernethy, American video game music composer
- Roy Abernethy, American businessman
- Ruth Abernethy, Canadian sculptor
- Terence Abernethy, South African cricketer
- Thomas Abernethy (disambiguation), several people
- Tom Abernethy, American basketball player
- Virginia Abernethy, American professor of psychiatry and anthropology
- William Abernethy Drummond, bishop of Edinburgh
- Ralph Abernethy Gamble, American politician
- William Abernethy Ogilvie, Canadian painter and war artist