O'Collopy

Recorded in many spelling forms including Collip, Collop, Collup, Cullip, Cullop and Cullup, occasionally de Cullip, and with the probably extinct diminutive form of Cullopin, this is English, but as Collopy or occasionally O' Collopy, it is Irish. Whether the two are in anyway associated, is unproven. Certainly both have claimed unusual origins. According to the late Professor P H Reaney, the English surname means "an egg fried on bacon", and hence was an occupational nickname surname for a inn keeper or similar, one who prepared hot food. However our research would suggest that the name may sometimes be locational from a 'lost' medieval place called "Colhop," or similar, and as such describing a cool place in a forest. If Irish then the origin is either the same as the English, or as is claimed from a farming term 'collop' used for a young pig. If so the possible connection with the English meaning of 'bacon' cannot be totally ignored. In Ireland the name is almost excliusive to County Limerick. Early examples of the surname recording include: John Collop in the Hundred Rolls of the county of Cambridge in the year 1279, whilst Henry Colloppe appears in the Assize Register of the court of Colchester in the Essex in 1290. Later examples taken from the early surviving post reformation church registers of the diocesse of Greater London include: Beatryce Collop, at the church of St Botolphs without Aldgate, on January 19th 1560, Sarah Cullopin at St Katherines by the Tower (of London) on July 23rd 1641, and Mary Cullip, who married John Ringrose, at St Pancras Old Church, on November 30th 1812.