Collum
An Irish surname often treated as a form of Cullem or Cullen, ultimately tied to the Gaelic personal name Colmán, meaning “little dove.”
The #9,144 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 86,532 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Collum is usually explained as an Anglicized Irish surname related to Gaelic Colmán, a diminutive of colm, meaning “dove.” In that sense, the name carries the idea of a “little dove,” originally from a personal name rather than a descriptive nickname. Some historical writers also treated Collum as a variant spelling of related Irish forms such as Cullen or Cullem.
History
The name is found in Irish and Irish-American records under several spellings, reflecting the loose and inconsistent spelling of surnames in earlier centuries. In the United States it remains relatively uncommon but is clearly established as a hereditary family name. Historical surname dictionaries sometimes group it with other Coll- forms, which suggests overlapping regional spellings rather than a single fixed medieval form.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because its root word means “dove,” Collum belongs to a wider family of surnames built on one of the most common medieval personal-name elements in Ireland.
From the historical record
“Clune, 286. Collum, 306. Carten, 252. Choiseul, 270.”
— Varieties and Synonymes of Surnames and Christian Names in Ireland