Gaelic sept

Cullen

Ó Cuilinn

Also: O'Cullen, Cullinane

“descendant of Cuileann, 'holly'”

🏔 Wicklow · Cill Mhantáin 🏔 Wexford · Loch Garman 🏔 Kildare · Cill Dara

The sept's historic heartland, highlighted. People moved — a name can be found far from home.

The story

A sept of the holly tree from the Wicklow-Wexford borders; Paul Cardinal Cullen of Kildare became Ireland's first cardinal and effectively redesigned the modern Irish church.

Their world Around 1450 — The Gaelic Resurgence. Plague, absentee landlords and Gaelic recovery shrink English Ireland to a fortified strip around Dublin.

See them on the atlas ↗

What the name is made of

Ó Cuilinn
Ó — descendant of (originally grandson of)
Cuilinn — the ancestor, trade or place the name is built on

Find this form in the Irish-to-English index → · What Ó and Mac actually mean

Is Cullen an Irish name?

Cullen is a Gaelic name: it was formed in Irish, from an Irish ancestor, before English was spoken here.

The five answers, and why it is rarely yes or no →

From Wikipedia — “Cullen (surname)”

Cullen is an Irish surname. It is an Anglicised form of Gaelic Ó Cuileáin "descendant of Cuileán", a name meaning "wolfhound whelp", "young hound". It is also considered by some to mean the "handsome one". The Uí Cuileáin of County Tyrone were erenaghs of Clogher. According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the O'Cullanes were one of the chiefly families of the Uí Fidgenti who were a tribe of the Erainn who were the second wave of Celts to settle in Ireland between about 500 and 100 BC.

Read the full article ↗ · Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Neighbours — other names from the same counties

Doyle · Wexford, Wicklow Kehoe · Wexford, Wicklow Kinsella · Wexford, Wicklow O'Toole · Wicklow, Kildare Bermingham · Kildare Byrne · Wicklow Carey · Kildare Cody · Wexford Connery · Wexford Darcy · Wexford Devereux · Wexford Doran · Wexford Esmonde · Wexford Fitzgerald · Kildare

Quick answers

Is Cullen an Irish name?

Cullen is a Gaelic name: it was formed in Irish, from an Irish ancestor, before English was spoken here. In Irish the name is Ó Cuilinn.

What does the surname Cullen mean?

Cullen (Irish: Ó Cuilinn) means “descendant of Cuileann, 'holly'”. Origin: Gaelic sept.

Where in Ireland is the surname Cullen from?

The historic homeland of the Cullen name is Wicklow, Wexford, Kildare. People moved, so the name can be found far beyond it.

What is the Irish for Cullen?

Ó Cuilinn. Related spellings: O'Cullen, Cullinane.

Looking for the Cullen family crest? Read this first — arms belong to people, not surnames, and the honest version is more interesting. Tracing Cullen ancestors? The step-by-step guide.

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