Cullity Family History & Genealogy

History

The name is probably quite ancient. It is a Gaelic name, and very possibly Old Irish in origin. It is known for several hundred years in County Cork, and it is to be assumed that is present at least as far back as the Central Middle Ages.

Name Origin

The Cullity name is Irish (Gaelic). It's meaning is uncertain, but there are two suggestions, one is that the name is derived from the gaelic "coladh" which means sleep, and thus could mean sleeper, sleepy, etc. The other thought is that it derives from the phrase Ceile De (pronounced Cull a dee, or Culdee) which means friend or servant to God, and is self-explanatory.

Spellings & Pronunciations

Cullity, Culloty, and Cullody, are all variant spellings of the same family name. It is usually pronounced CULL uh DEE, with equal stress on the first and last syllable, and the middle syllable unstressed.

Nationality & Ethnicity

The Cullity family has a single point of origin in Northwest County Cork, in Ireland. The Blackwater river runs near the ancestral farming lands of the family, and they are all originally located in town lands called Knockavoreen (The big, little mountain). This is very near Ballydesmond, county Cork.

Famous People named Cullity

For a brief time, there was an American footballer named Dave Cullity with the San Francisco 49ers. There have been Cullitys' in acting, the legal profession, academic life and among the clergy. They have been noted in North America, both the USA and Canada, Ireland, Britain, and in Australia and New Zealand. There are many noted footballers and rugby players named Cullity in the British Isles.

Early Cullities

These are the earliest records we have of the Cullity family.