Torney is an English,^[1][2] Northern-Irish and German^[1][3] surname which is most prevalent in Australia^[4] and has its highest density in the North of Ireland.^[4]

As a habitational surname it may be connected to French locations with the name Tournay or Tournai (from Proto-Celtic turno- "height" with the Gaulish toponymic suffix -acu(m), meaning "location of the hills" or "shore heights")^[1][5] – and carried by people arriving after the Norman conquest in 1066^[2] – or to a variety of British places named Thorney (with the Old English meaning of "thorn tree island").^[1] As an Irish name it is the reduced Anglicized form of Ó Torna (meaning "descendant of Torna", a personal name).^[1] In Slavic influenced eastern Germany it is a toponymic surname – derived similarly as in England from the word thorn – and probably referred to a location characterized by thorn bushes and/or trees.^[1]

Notable people with the name Torney include:

• George H. Torney (1850–1913), physician in the United States Navy and Army
• Henry Torney (1884–1942), American football player and industrial engineer
• Hugh Torney (Irish republican) (1954–1996), Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) paramilitary leader
• Hugh Torney (footballer) (1909–2000), Australian rules footballer
• Jason Torney (born 1977), retired Australian rules footballer
• Kate Torney (born 19??), Australian journalist
• Rhona Torney (born 19??), Irish camogie player
• Thomas Torney (1915–1998), British Labour Party politician
• Viktor von Strauß und Torney (1809–1899), German princely minister and poet

References