Kelleher
/ˈkɛlɪhə/
"kelleher" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Kelleher” is uncommon English (frequency #56,215 among 9,255 “K” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #56,215
- frequency rank, English
- 9,255
- “K” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A surname from Irish.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Kelleher |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɛlɪhə/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #56,215 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Kelleher” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Kelleher is uncommon English at frequency #56,215 among 9,255 “K” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˈkɛlɪhə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A surname from Irish.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for Kelleher, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Irish Ó Céileachair (“descendant of Céileachar”), from the male given name Céileachar (literally “spouse-loving”), from céile (“spouse, companion”), from Old Irish céile, from Primitive Irish ᚉᚓᚂᚔ (celi, “follower, devotee”, genitive), from Proto-Celti… The correct English form is Kelleher, spelled K-E-L-L-E-H-E-R.
Definition
- 1A surname from Irish.
Etymology
From Irish Ó Céileachair (“descendant of Céileachar”), from the male given name Céileachar (literally “spouse-loving”), from céile (“spouse, companion”), from Old Irish céile, from Primitive Irish ᚉᚓᚂᚔ (celi, “follower, devotee”, genitive), from Proto-Celtic *keiliyos; + -ach (“of”, relation-forming suffix), from Old Irish -ach, from Proto-Celtic *-ākos, from Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂kos, *-eh₂ḱos.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “Kelleher”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is K-E-L-L-E-H-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkɛlɪhə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.