Show ContentsCooledge History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Cooledge is a name whose history is connected to the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name is derived from when the Cooledge family once lived in Coldridge, in Devon. Alternatively, the family dould have originated in Colwich, a parish, in the S. division of the hundred of Pirehill, union, and N. division of the county of Staffordshire. 1

"A writer in West Scotland said there was a family or families named Colledge resident for many generations at Hawick, Darnick, near Melrose, and Lauder; in Edinburgh for over 200 years and also in Glasgow." 2

Early Origins of the Cooledge family

The surname Cooledge was first found in Nottinghamshire, where Brian de Colewich was registered in 1210. 3

The family were more often than not in "the west of England any court or group of cottages having a common entrance from the street is called a college, and residence at such a place. probably originated the name." 4

Records of the family are very scarce. The Wills at Chester list John Colledge, of Colne, dotkworker, 1639. 5

Early History of the Cooledge family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cooledge research. Another 63 words (4 lines of text) covering the years 1578, 1635, 1639, 1670 and 1681 are included under the topic Early Cooledge History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Cooledge Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Cooledge family name include Colledge, College, Collage, Gollege, Golledge, Callage, Calledge, Gollidge, Collige, Collidge and many more.

Early Notables of the Cooledge family

Another 44 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Cooledge Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.


United States Cooledge migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Cooledge surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Cooledge Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • John Cooledge, who landed in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1636 6


  1. Barber, Henry, British Family Names London: Elliot Stock, 62 Paternoster Row, 1894. Print.
  2. Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
  3. Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
  4. Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
  5. Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
  6. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)


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