Ó Coileáin (

Middle Irish Middle Irish, also called Middle Gaelic (, , ), is the Goidelic language which was spoken in Ireland, most of Scotland and the Isle of Man from AD; it is therefore a contemporary of Late Old English and Early Middle English. The modern Goideli ...

: ''Ua Cuiléin'') is a

Modern Irish Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

surname generally belonging to the descendants of the last leading family of the Uí Chonaill Gabra, a sept and small but notable overkingdom of medieval and ancient Ireland, based in western

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

. Throughout much of their history the Uí Chonaill Gabra were in turn the leading sept of the greater regional overkingdom of the

Uí Fidgenti The Uí Fidgenti, Fidgeinti, Fidgheinte, Fidugeinte, Fidgente, or Fidgeinte ( or ;In the pronunciation, the -d- is silent, and the -g- becomes a glide, producing what might be anglicized ''Feeyenti'' or ''Feeyenta''. "descendants of, or of the ...

, considered among the highest ranked princes or

flatha A ( Irish) or (Scottish Gaelic; plural ), in the Gaelic world, could refer to any member in general of a powerful family enjoying a high degree of sovereignty, and so is also sometimes translated as lord or aristocrat in the general sense, or ...

in all the Province of

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

. Ó Coileáin/Ua Cuiléin is most commonly anglicized O'Collins and O'Cullane. The surname has also long been found in

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, believed largely due to the migration there, probably in the late 12th or early 13th century, of a junior branch of the County Limerick dynasty.

Kings of Uí Chonaill Gabra

Carbery branch

It is believed that what is probably a junior branch of the Uí Chonaill kings joined their distant kin the O'Donovan family of the Uí Chairpre Áebda, another great sept of the Uí Fidgenti, in their exodus to Carbery in

West Cork West Cork () is a tourist region and municipal district in County Cork, Ireland. As a municipal district, West Cork falls within the administrative area of Cork County Council, and includes the towns of Bantry, Castletownbere, Clonakilty, Du ...

between the late 12th and early 13th centuries.

Modern

* Michael Collins believed his family were descendants of the Uí Chonaill Gabra.Coogan, pp. 5–6 They belonged to the minor landed gentry of Carbery, and were situated in the right place, very near to O'Donovan country, for this to be quite plausible. *

Con Collins Cornelius Collins (; 13 November 1881 – 23 November 1937), known as Con Collins, was an Irish Sinn Féin politician. He was born in Arranagh, Monagea, Newcastle West, County Limerick. He had joined the Conradh na Gaeilge, Gaelic League by 19 ...

, County Limerick politician * Mountcollins, village in the extreme southwest of County Limerick

Notes

References

* Begley, John.
The Diocese of Limerick, Ancient and Medieval
'. Dublin: Browne & Nolan. 1906. * Coogan, Tim Pat, ''Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland''. Palgrave Macmillan. 2002. * Sir Richard Cox, 1st Baronet, ''Carberiae Notitia''. 1690. extracts published in
Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, Volume XII, Second Series
'. 1906. pp. 142–9 * Cronnelly, Richard F.,
Irish Family History
Part II: A History of the Clan Eoghan, or Eoghanachts''. Dublin: Goodwin, Son, and Nethercott. 1864. * Mac Airt, Seán (ed. & tr.). '' The Annals of Inisfallen (MS. Rawlinson B. 503)''.

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) () is a statutory independent research institute in Dublin, Ireland. It was established, under the Institute For Advanced Studies Act 1940, by the government of the then Taoiseach, Éamon de Vale ...

. 1951
edition
* MacCotter, Paul, ''Medieval Ireland: Territorial, Political and Economic Divisions''. Dublin:

Four Courts Press Four Courts Press is an independent Irish academic publishing house, with its office at Malpas Street, Dublin 8, Ireland. Founded in 1970 by Michael Adams, who died in February 2009, its early publications were primarily theological, notably ...

. 2008. * MacGeoghegan, Connell (trans.), Denis Murphy (ed.),
The Annals of Clonmacnoise
'. Translated 1627. Printed in Dublin by The University Press in 1896. * O'Hart, John.
Irish Pedigrees
'. Dublin: James Duffy and Co. 5th edition, 1892. * Ó hInnse, Séamus (ed. & tr.) and Florence MacCarthy, ''

Mac Carthaigh's Book ''Mac Carthaigh’s Book'' is a collection of annals of the period AD 1114 in Ireland, 1114–1437 in Ireland, 1437 inclusive. It was compiled from earlier material by Florence MacCarthy, Fínghin Mac Carthaigh Mór (c. 1560–1640) an Irish noble ...

'', or
Miscellaneous Irish Annals (A.D. 1114-1437)
'.

. 1947. * Ó Murchadha, Diarmuid, ''Family Names of County Cork''. Cork: The Collins Press. 2nd edition, 1996. * Stokes, Whitley (ed. & tr.),
The Annals of Tigernach
'. '' Revue Celtique 16–18''. 1895–1897. * Taylor, Rex, ''Michael Collins''. Hutchinson. 1958. {{DEFAULTSORT:O Coileain Surnames Irish families Surnames of Irish origin Irish-language surnames