Cullant History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Ireland
Scotland

While many Irish names are familiar, their past incarnations are often shrouded in mystery, reflecting the ancient Gaelic heritage of their bearers. The original Gaelic form of the name Cullant is "Mac Cuilinn" or "Ó Cuilinn," which are from the word "cuileann," which means "holly." 1

They descend from Heber, who with his brother Heremon ruled Ireland. 2 Culen or Colin, son of Indulph, was King of Scotland or Alba (967-71?) "His father, Indulph, was the first king who occupied Edinburgh, up to that time within Anglian Northumbria. " 3

Early Origins of the Cullant family

The surname Cullant was first found in the southeast of Ireland, in the counties of Dublin, Wicklow, and Wexford. Although all but one of the many distinct septs have become extinct, this remaining sept currently provides Ireland with nearly 8000 members, enough to make Cullen the 84th most common name in Ireland.

Descended from Olioll Flann Beag, king of Munster, the Cullens made their original homeland at Glencullen, in Wicklow, and they have remained there to the present day, despite the threat of their more powerful neighbors, the O'Tooles and the O'Byrnes. They were an influential family, as indicated by the inclusion of Cullen of Cullenstown among the leading gentry of Wexford in the Clongowes manuscript of 1598.

Due to the prominence of this sept, a number of similarly-named minor septs also adopted the name Cullen, including O Cuileamhain of south Leinster, which is also rendered Culloon or Culhoun, and Mac Cuilin of Leitrim, which is also Anglicized MacCullen.

Early History of the Cullant family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cullant research. Another 70 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1300, 1516, 1517, 1528, 1531, 1534, 1542, 1659, 1803 and 1878 are included under the topic Early Cullant History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Cullant Spelling Variations

The scribes who created documents long before either the Gaelic or English language resembled their standardized versions of today recorded words as they sounded. Consequently, in the Middle Ages the names of many people were recorded under different spellings each time they were written down. Research on the Cullant family name revealed numerous spelling variations, including Cullen, Cullan, Cullane, O'Cullen, Cullain, Cullin, Cullon, McCullen, MacCullen, O'Cullane, Culen, Culan, Culain, Cullaine, Culaine, MacCulen, MacCollin, MacColin, O'Colen, O'Collen, O'Cuilin, O'Cuillin, O'Culane, O'Culen, O'Culhoon, O'Culloon, MacCullen, Cullain, Culon, Cullon, Culling and many more.

Early Notables of the Cullant family

Notable among the family name at this time was Patrick O'Cullen, (d. 1534), Bishop of Clogher (1517-1542.) He "was an Augustinian hermit and prior of St. John without Newgate in Dublin. He was appointed to the see of Clogher by Leo X on 11 Feb. 1516. In 1528 the Pope granted him a dispensation from residence on account of the poverty of his see, which had been so wasted in the wars that it was not...
Another 76 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Cullant Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Cullant family

Irish immigrants began to leave the English-controlled Ireland in sizable numbers during the late 18th century. Many of these Irish immigrated to British North America or the United States in the hopes of gaining their own tract of farmland. This pattern of migration grew steadily until the 1840s when the Great Potato Famine caused a great exodus of immigrants to North America. These immigrants differed from their predecessors in that they were desperately fleeing the disease and starvation that plagued their homeland, and many were entirely destitute when they arrived in North America. Although these penniless immigrants were not warmly welcomed when they arrived, they were critical to the rapid development of the United States and what would become known as Canada. Many went to populate the western frontiers and others provided the cheap labor the new manufacturing sector and the building of bridges, roads, railways, and canals required. A thorough examination of immigration and passenger lists has revealed some of the earliest people to arrive in North America with name Cullant or one of its variants: Henry Cullen who settled in Boston Massachusetts in 1820; L. Cullen settled in Baltimore in 1820; Patrick Cullen settled in West New Jersey in 1772; the family also settled in New York and California in the 19th century. Popular Christian names of the settlers was Andrew, Bernerd, Charles, Daniel, Dennis, Edward, George, James, John, Michael, Owen, Patrick, Peter, Robert, Thomas, Walter, and William, and they settled mostly in Philadelphia between 1830 and 1870. William Cullen was a property owner in St. John's Newfoundland in 1794 and had been settled there for 17 years.

Citations +

MacLysaght, Edward, Supplement to Irish Families. Baltimore: Genealogical Book Company, 1964. Print.
O'Hart, John, Irish Pedigrees 5th Edition in 2 Volumes. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1976. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0737-4)
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print