Cole
An Irish surname of Dublin. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 195,289 people, the 126th most common surname in the country.
Cole is the anglicised form of three distinct Irish names. Some you can hear in the English name; others look and sound nothing like it, and were simply swapped for it.
Cól, son of Cole (Norse Colr or Kolr, also in use among the Anglo-Saxons; Cole, Cola, Colo, etc. appear in Domesday Book as names of persons holding land in the time of Edward the Confessor). This family stood in Co. Fermanagh.
Mac Dhubhghaill
Mac Giolla Chomhghaill, son of Giolla Chomhghaill (servant of St. Comgall). This family stood in Co. Donegal.
Where the name comes from
Cól is son of Cole, from the Norse Colr, also in use among the Anglo-Saxons; Cole, Cola and Colo appear in Domesday Book as names of persons holding land in the time of Edward the Confessor. A family of the name settled in Fermanagh at the time of the plantation of Ulster, but most of our Coles are of Irish origin.
The Irish ones are Mac Dhubhghaill, which gives MacCool, MacCole, Coole, Cole and Coyle, and Mac Giolla Chomhghaill, son of the servant of St. Comgall, a Donegal surname behind MacCole, MacCool and Glihool.
Dublin, photographed
Photographs made in Dublin.
Dublin
Dublin is a county as well as a city. The bay has Howth at the north end and Killiney Hill at the south, the Muglins are a pair of rocks off Dalkey, and the Dublin Mountains start about half an hour from the city centre.
Notable bearers
Ashley Cole (born 1980), association football player and association football coach.
Natalie Cole (1950-2015), actor, writer, and singer.
Joe Cole (born 1981), association football player and association football coach.
Andy Cole (born 1971), association football player.
J. Cole (born 1985), actor, writer, and singer.
About this page
The counties on this page are where the name was thickest on the ground in Ireland a century and a half ago, not a claim about any one family. Names moved around inside the country as much as they left it. The photographs are mine, made in the counties named.
More Irish surnames: Williams · Davis · Edwards · Cooper · Kelly · Cox · Brooks · Wood · James · Price · Butler · Jordan
How common the name was
In 1890, 37 births were registered under Cole in Ireland, most of them in Armagh, Down, Dublin, Kings, and Londonderry.
| Leinster | 15 | 41% |
|---|---|---|
| Ulster | 13 | 35% |
| Munster | 6 | 16% |
| Connacht | 3 | 8% |
| Ireland | 37 |
Armagh, Down, Kings, and Londonderry are the ones I haven't worked in.