‘Keelavarnogue’ church and graveyard is spelt as Killovarnaun on the Ordnance Survey 6” map. In 1985 the Placenames Branch recommended Cill Mhearnóg as the Irish form of the name. It is of interest to note that the Irish name recorded in the Ordnance Survey Parish Namebook about 1841was ‘Cill a Bhearnain or Killavaroge’(recte –varnoge?). John O’Donovan took this to mean ‘church of the little gap’ i.e. Cill an Bhearnáin. The latter Irish name was adopted in the Archaeological Survey of South Kerry, p. 271 by Ann O’Sullivan and John Sheehan. The difficulty with Cill an Bhearnáin is that it doesn’t explain the ending –oge, which was also recorded in the Ordnance Survey Namebook as we have seen and in modern local pronunciation. An Seabhac, in his article on the placenames of Uíbh Ráthach (Béaloideas, 1954) recommended Cill Ó bhFearnóg as the Irish name: Is áirithe gur Fearnóg (nó b'fhéidir M'Fhearnóg) is ainm do naomh na sean-chille sin'. Ó bhFearnóg would be the genitive of Uí Fhearnóg, an unrecorded sept-name. An Seabhac compared this name to the placename and church site of Kilfarnoge / Cill Fearnóg in Co. Kerry (p Fionntrá, bar. Corca Dhuibhne) which he regarded as a derivative of Cill Mhearnóg -- see Triocha-Céad Chorca Dhuibhne (1939) 64. Cill na bhFearnóg is unlikely to be the underlying Irish name of the Uíbh Ráthach church site, as the ‘n’ of the article ‘na’ is normally retained in the anglicised forms of placenames following Cill. There is undoubtedly a syllable between the initial element of the placename, Cill and the consnant ‘v’ in the present instance which must correspond to Irish Mh- or Bh- as we have ruled out eclipsis, bhFearnóg. However this vowel between Cill and the next consonant may not have any grammatical significance, similar to the placename Killabuonia in South Kerry from Cill Buaine. Cill Mhearnóg would mean ‘the church of Mearnóg’ and Mearnóg is recorded as a saint’s name in Irish sources. It is found in the placename Portmarnock / Port Mearnóg for instance and also in Kilmarnock / Cill Mhearnaig in Scotland. Mearnóg is in origin a hypocoristic or ‘pet’ form of the name Eirnín, Earnán and another pet form such as Mearnán would be conceivable. The advantage of this explanation is that it would explain the –án and the -óg ending of the placename near Cahirsiveen i.e. Cill Mhearnóg and Cill Mhearnáin.