Boy's name
Coileán
“kul-AWN”
'whelp', a young dog
The story behind the name
An old name meaning a pup, the same as the Scottish Cailean or Colin of the Campbells. Woulfe found it rare and almost peculiar to the O'Dempseys in later times. Coilín, he says, is a variant, though Anglo-Irish families also used Coilín as a pet form of Nicholas.
Meanings follow Ó Corráin & Maguire's Irish Names and Woulfe; pronunciations give the commonest Irish-English form. Know this name better — a dialect pronunciation, a family tradition? Tell us. · All Irish names A–Z