Cooly History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Ireland

Irish names tend to vary widely in their spelling and overall form. The original Gaelic form of the name Cooly is Mac Giolla Chuille. Cuille has been suggested to be an abbreviation of Mochuille, the name of a saint. However, other origins also exist for this name.

Early Origins of the Cooly family

The surname Cooly was first found in Ulster (Irish: Ulaidh), where they held a family seat from very ancient times.

Early History of the Cooly family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cooly research. Another 119 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1618, 1667, 1743 and 1809 are included under the topic Early Cooly History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Cooly Spelling Variations

Since medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, and since there were no consistent rules for the translation of rules from Gaelic to English, spelling variations are extremely common in Boernician names of this vintage. Cooly has been spelled Cooley, Cooling, Cowley, Cully, Colly, McCooley, Coaley, Coolyng, Couley, Colley, McCowley, Cooleng, McCoolay, Coolay, Collay, Cullay, Cowleigh, Culleigh and many more.

Early Notables of the Cooly family

More information is included under the topic Early Cooly Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Cooly migration to the United States +

Many of the Boernician-Scottish families who crossed the Atlantic settled along the eastern seaboard in communities that would become the backbone of the emerging nations of the United States and Canada. In the War of Independence, American families that remained loyal to the Crown moved north into Canada and became known as United Empire Loyalists. The ancestral culture of all of these proud Scottish families remains alive in North America in the 20th century through Clan societies and highland games. Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the name Cooly or a variant listed above:

Cooly Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

DIG Cooly, who landed in Virginia in 1663 1
Tho Cooly, who arrived in Virginia in 1663 1

Cooly Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

James Cooly, who landed in New York, NY in 1816 1
Mr. Cooly, who landed in San Francisco, California in 1851 1

Cooly migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Cooly Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

William Cooly, aged 25, a harnessmaker, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Hindostan" in 1875

Citations +

Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)