Start your family tree now Is your surname Collins?
There are already 3,123 users and over 86,476 genealogy profiles with the Collins surname on Geni. Explore Collins genealogy and family history in the World's Largest Family Tree.

Collins Genealogy and Collins Family History Information

‹ Back to Surnames Index

Create your Family Tree.
Discover your Family History.

  • Build your family tree online
  • Share photos and videos
  • Smart Matching™ technology
  • Free!
view all

Profiles

  • Abigail Wolcott (1681 - 1758)
    GEDCOM Source ===@R-1094418654@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. === GEDCOM Source ===Ancestry Fa...
  • Abigail Collins - Farrar (1644 - 1726)
    Died after 1693. Named in husband's will.===References * Friedman, Jane Thayer. "Richard Johnson of Lynn and His Descendants", in The Essex Genealogist (Massachusetts). (Lynnfield, Massachusetts: Essex...
  • Abigail Hammond (1644 - 1674)
    in the morning of "a malignant fever" References Collins, James Wade Ferris. The Family and American Descendants of Deacon Edward Collins of Cambridge, Medford, and Charlestown, Massachusetts, The ...
  • Abigail Collins (deceased)
    * Reference: RootsWeb's WorldConnect - SmartCopy : Sep 25 2016, 1:45:22 UTC **Sources:User Home Page at of Virginia Marian Renegar, rec'd Jun 2000

About the Collins surname

origins

The surname Collins has a variety of likely origins in Britain and Ireland:

  • Anglo-Saxon: A patronymic surname based on the name Colin, an English diminutive form of Nicholas. In England, Collins usually signified "son of Colin."
  • Norse: From the Old Norse personal name "Kollungr" a form of "koli" which in Old English became 'Cola', meaning swarthy or dark.
  • Irish: "cuilein" = darling, a term of endearment applied to a whelp or young animal. The medieval surname was Ua Cuiléin, which has usually become Ó Coileáin today.
  • Welsh: Collen = hazel, hazel grove.

The earliest documented evidence of the name in England dates back as far as the twelfth and thirteenth centuries where several instances have been recorded. One Colinus de Andresia appears in the pipe rolls of Berkshire in 1191, while a Colinus is mentioned in Hartopp's Register of the Freeman of Leicester recorded in 1196. The name Colinc is also mentioned several times in the Domesday Book. The personal name Colin from which the surname derives has an even older history; Ceawlin, the king of the West Saxons, Caelin, a brother of St Chad, and the early Welsh saint, Kollen, all have names related to Colin. In Ireland, Collins may be regarded as a genuinely indigenous Irish name; in fact, it is one of the most numerous surnames, ranked number 30

other versions of this surname