Coleman

An Irish surname of Cork and Dublin. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 219,070 people, the 107th most common surname in the country.

Coleman is the anglicised form of four distinct Irish names. Some you can hear in the English name; others look and sound nothing like it, and were simply swapped for it.

Colmán, son of Colman. This family stood in Co. Dublin.

Mac Colmáin, son of Colmán (diminutive of colm, a dove, a very common Irish personal name)

Ó Clúmháin, descendant of Clúmhán (diminutive of clúmhach , hairy, from clúmh , down, feathers, Latin pluma). This family stood in Co. Sligo.

Ó Colmáin, descendant of Colmán (diminutive of Colm, dove, a very common Irish personal name). This family stood in Co. Cavan, Co. Cork, Co. Dublin, Co. Longford, Co. Meath, Co. Roscommon, Co. Sligo, Co. Tipperary, Co. Waterford, and Co. Wexford.

Where the name comes from

Ó Colmáin is descendant of Colmán, a diminutive of colm, a dove, and one of the very common Irish personal names. The family belonged to the Ui Fiachrach and were anciently seated in the townland of Grangemore, in the parish of Templeboy, Co. Sligo. By the 16th century the name was scattered across Cork, Tipperary, Waterford, Dublin, Wexford, Meath, Longford, Roscommon and Cavan.

Ó Clúmháin is a different family altogether: poets and chroniclers to the O'Haras in Co. Sligo, from clúmhach, hairy, and clúmh, down or feathers. Branches settled early in South Leinster and West Munster, where the name is now common but disguised as Coleman and Clifford. That the same disguises are used back in the original territory is the proof that the southern families are of the Sligo stock.

Colmán itself was in use in England in Anglo-Saxon times, doubtless borrowed from the Irish, and appears as the name of a landholder in the time of Edward the Confessor. A family of it came to Ireland about the period of the Anglo-Norman invasion and settled in Dublin and other places in Leinster.

Rugged Atlantic coastline at Allihies, Cork, Ireland, with layered slate cliffs, fine art landscape photograph by Peter Cox
Allihies Coast, Cork

The Coleman counties, photographed

Cork

Cork is the largest county in Ireland. Three peninsulas run west into the Atlantic: Beara, Sheep's Head and Mizen, with the population thinning the further out you go. My gallery is in Glengarriff at the head of Bantry Bay, so it's the ground I photograph most.

Sunset over Dun an Oir ruins and sea stacks on Cape Clear Island, Cork, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxDún an Óir, Cape Clear Island, Cork Co. Cork The Fastnet Lighthouse standing proud on a calm summer evening off West Cork in black and white panoramic viewThe Fastnet Lighthouse, Co. Cork Co. Cork Aerial view of the Fastnet Lighthouse surrounded by angry seas off West Cork with Cape Clear Island on the horizonThe Fastnet from the Air Co. Cork Inside the rotating lantern of the Fastnet Lighthouse with Fresnel lenses, ladder, and a rainbow projected on a poleInside the Lantern, the Fastnet Lighthouse, Co. Cork Co. Cork The winding Healy Pass road climbing through the Caha Mountains on the Beara Peninsula, Cork on a cloudy dayThe Healy Pass, Co. Cork Co. Cork Long exposure of a small pier extending into a bay at sunset under heavy cloud, Lehanbeg, CorkLehanbeg Pier, Co. Cork Co. Cork Sunrise over Gougane Barra lake with mountains reflected in still water, County Cork, Ireland — fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxA Morning at the Office, Gougane Barra, Co. Cork Co. Cork Long exposure of waves crashing against rocks at the Old Head of Kinsale lighthouse at dusk with its lantern shiningOld Head of Kinsale Lighthouse, Co. Cork Co. Cork

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.

Moonlight reflecting on the sea near the Muglins lighthouse off Dalkey Island, Dublin, with the Kish light on the horizonThe Muglins by Moonlight II Co. Dublin Long exposure panoramic view of the White Rock swimming platform at Killiney Bay, Dublin, floating in misty high-tide watersThe White Rock, Killiney Bay, Co. Dublin Co. Dublin Heron fishing at dawn on the Dublin coast — fine art wildlife photograph by Peter CoxHeron, Co. Dublin Co. Dublin

All Cork prints · All Dublin prints

Notable bearers

Gary Coleman (1968-2010), actor, screenwriter, and film director.

Ornette Coleman (1930-2015), musician, composer, and recording artist.

Séamus Coleman (born 1988), association football player.

Ronnie Coleman (born 1964), American football player, police officer, and bodybuilder.

Bessie Coleman (1892-1926), aircraft pilot, human rights defender, and stunt pilot.

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: Johnson · Collins · Murphy · Howard · Hayes · Mason · Palmer · Warren · Ryan · Lane · Franklin · Obrien

How common the name was

In 1890, 138 births were registered under Coleman in Ireland, most of them in Cork, Dublin, Roscommon, and Waterford.

Munster 63
Leinster 31
Connacht 30
Ulster 14
Ireland 138

Roscommon and Waterford are the ones I haven't worked in.