While the Anglicized versions of Irish names are familiar to most people, all Irish names have a long and proud Gaelic heritage that is often unknown. The original Gaelic form of the name Colligen is "O Cuileagain."
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Early Origins of the Colligen family
The surname Colligen was first found in County Londonderry (Irish: Doire), a Northern Irish county also known as Derry, in the province of Ulster, where they held a family seat from ancient times.
Early History of the Colligen family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Colligen research. Another 112 words (8 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Colligen History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Colligen Spelling Variations
Scribes and church officials, lacking today's standardized spelling rules, recorded names by how they were pronounced. This imprecise guide often led to the misleading result of one person's name being recorded under several different spellings. Numerous spelling variations of the surname Colligen are preserved in documents of the family history. The various spellings of the name that were found include Culligan, Colligan, Quilligan, O'Quilligan, O'Culligan, O'Colligan, Coligan, Culigan, Colgan and many more.
Early Notables of the Colligen family
More information is included under the topic Early Colligen Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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Migration of the Colligen family
In the 18th and 19th centuries, thousands of Irish families fled an Ireland that was forcibly held through by England through its imperialistic policies. A large portion of these families crossed the Atlantic to the shores of North America. The fate of these families depended on when they immigrated and the political allegiances they showed after they arrived. Settlers that arrived before the American War of Independence may have moved north to Canada at the war's conclusion as United Empire Loyalists. Such Loyalists were granted land along the St. Lawrence River and the Niagara Peninsula. Those that fought for the revolution occasionally gained the land that the fleeing Loyalist vacated. After this period, free land and an agrarian lifestyle were not so easy to come by in the East. So when seemingly innumerable Irish immigrants arrived during the Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s, free land for all was out of the question. These settlers were instead put to work building railroads, coal mines, bridges, and canals. Whenever they came, Irish settlers made an inestimable contribution to the building of the New World. Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the Irish name Colligen or a variant listed above, including: Arthur, Bernard, and Thomas Colligan, who arrived in Philadelphia between 1640 to 1670; as well as John, Pat and Simon Culligan, who arrived in Quebec in 1839..
The motto was originally a war cry or slogan. Mottoes first began to be shown with arms in the 14th and 15th centuries, but were not in general use until the 17th century. Thus the oldest coats of arms generally do not include a motto. Mottoes seldom form part of the grant of arms: Under most heraldic authorities, a motto is an optional component of the coat of arms, and can be added to or changed at will; many families have chosen not to display a motto.
