Coughlin
An Irish surname, usually treated as an Anglicized form of an old Gaelic family name linked to the Coughlan/Coghlan group.
The #2,510 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 21,390 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Coughlin is generally taken as an Anglicized spelling of the Irish surname Ó Coghláin or a closely related form in the Coughlan/Coghlan cluster. The Gaelic element is usually explained as a personal-name base rather than a descriptive English word, and the later English spellings vary widely because Irish names were rendered phonetically. The many forms listed in older surname books show that Coughlin, Coughlan, Coghlan, Coghlin, and related spellings were often treated as variants of the same underlying Irish name.
History
Older Irish surname compilers regularly group Coughlin with Coghlan and Coughlan, reflecting a shared Gaelic origin and overlapping anglicization. In Ireland and among emigrant communities, spelling was fluid, so the same family line could appear under several forms in records. The surname is now well established in English-speaking countries, especially in Ireland, the United States, and diaspora communities.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Irish reference works often treated Coughlin as part of a whole family of spellings rather than as a single fixed surname.
From the historical record
“Coghlin, Coughlan, Coughlen, Coughlin. tT»AC CotdIacaih, Colleton, Collo- tan, Culleton, Culliton ; Cullington.”
— Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish names and surnames