Colley Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Colley Family History

Colley Family History

The ancient origin of the name Colley was found in the irishsurnames.com archives.

Surnames developed a wide number of variants over the centuries. Many different spelling variations of the same name can be traced back to a single original root. Also, when a bearer of a name emigrated from Ireland it was not uncommon that their original name would be incorrectly transcribed in the record books upon arrival at their new location. Some names have dozens of spelling variations. Some Surnames were also altered over the years based on how they sounded phonetically, by their sound, and depending on the prevailing political conditions it may have been advantageous to change a name from one language to another. This was especially so in Ireland where most Gaelic names were 'anglicized' at some stage.

Variants of the name Colley include Cully, Culley, Cooley, Wellesley and Wesley. The name Colley can be of Irish or English origin. In Ireland the name is derived from the Gaelic Mac Colla sept that was located in Counties Galway and Roscommon. A sept or clan was a collective term describing a group of persons whose immediate ancestors bore a common surname and inhabited the same territory. When the name is of English origin it refers to settlers who arrived in Ireland during the seventeenth century and who later acquire the lands of Wellesley. An early record of the name refers to a Father Walter Wellesley who was Bishop of Kildare from 1529 to 1539. With the failure of the male line of this family during the eighteenth century, their name was passed on to the Colleys of Castle Carbery, County Kildare, to whom they are closely related. In modern times these names are mostly found in their original homeland Counties as well as in Ulster Province. The Colley family crest (or coat of arms) came into existence many centuries ago. The process of creating these coats of arms began as early as the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this, including Ireland. The new more formalized art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own family crest, coat of arms, including Colley descendants.