Mac Collin, Mac Cullen, O Collen, Collin, Cullen, Collen in Oriel

[Mary Lee Becker]

From: "The Surnames of Ireland," Sixth Edition, Edward MacLysaght, 1999. Sixth edition 1985. Irish Academic Press, Dublin, Ireland:

pg. 51:
"(Mac) Collin   'Mac Cuilinn' ('cuileann', holly). This belongs to Oriel. Also anglicized as MacQuillan and (Mac)Cullen."
pg. 68:
"(Mac) Cullen  'Mac Cuillinn' ('Cuileann', holly). Mainly found in Co. Monaghan. A varient of MacCollin...SIF 90*
pg. 50:
"(O) Collen  An Oriel varient of Cullen."

*Reference SIF is "Supplement to Irish Families."

[Bernie Cullen]

Thanks for these postings. I have to say I find MacLysaght very confusing, the information in each entry is so inconsistent. From reading this, you would think that Monaghan is the county in the Oriel area which the greatest concentration of the names Cullen and MacCullen. In fact I believe the opposite is true. MacCullen is an extremely uncommon name anywhere in Ireland now, and probably has been uncommon since at least the 1850s. There are no MacCullen/McCullens in the phonebook for Monaghan today.

And Cullen is much more common in most of the surrounding counties than in Monaghan. As far as I know, MacLysaght has never said anything in any of his books about the huge number of Cullens in Armagh for example.

It seems like the MacCullens or Cullens were once an important family in Monaghan and were mentioned in old records. There may still be a few there, but from the way MacLysaght presents it, you'd never know that anything has changed.

See my maps at http://cullengene.blogspot.com/2006/10/new-cullen-distribution-map.html

Bernie Cullenm

[Mary Lee Becker]

Thank you for your posting.
  Yes, I agree that MacLysaght's work is sometimes confusing. Some of his entries seem to contradict his other entries.
   Take, for example, his entry on the surname Mac Quillan. On page 251, he writes:

   "Mac Quillan  'Mac Uighilin'. This is the name taken by the Cambro-Norman family of Mandeville which developed into an Irish sept, and became lords of the Route. It spread to Oriel and adjacent counties where it is reported to have been changed to MacCullen-hence, even Cullen- and also occasionally to MacWilliams. Bibl, IF  Map Antrim. See MacCollin."

  To my way of thinking, this is exactly why we need the Oriel DNA Project. It will take Y-DNA results to sort out these various lineages. We need for this to be done as a geographic project, because the matches are likely to encompass several surnames, and areas, given their source.