Colling

Male
CPL
4 of 5

Discussion of the name

Scholarly opinion has been divided over the origin of the name Colling. Some have reckoned it Scandinavian, ON Kollungr (von Feilitzen 1937: 307; Fellows Jensen 1969: 179; Reaney 1997: 106), others a native English name (PN Lancs. 175; Tengvik 1938: 141–2; von Feilitzen 1976: 153). Its geographical distribution within and beyond DB is inconclusive, since the range suggests that Colling, in that spelling, was well established in the eleventh century across much or all of England. If ultimately of Scandinavian origin, it had clearly been thoroughly Anglicized by 1066; it may have functioned as an –ing derivative of the OE name Cola even if it did not originate as such. Cola is regarded as originally a byname derived from OE col ‘coal’ and referring to a swarthy appearance (von Feilitzen 1937: 217).

Besides the two TRE landowners and two 1086 burgesses identified here, the name Colling was borne by moneyers at Lewes (Suss.) under Cnut (PASE: Colling 3) and at Stafford and Tamworth (Staffs.) under Edward the Confessor (PASE: Colling 4), by a burgess of Winchester in 1066 who may have been identical with the Winchester moneyer of the late 1040s whose coins were marked Coll (Winton DB no. 206; Biddle and Keene 1976: 406), and by a monk of Evesham living in the 1070s (PASE: Colling 2).

Colling was also used as a byname in the mid eleventh century. There was a small landowner in Devon called Ælfric Colling (Devon 19:40) and in Dorset called Alweard Colling (Dors. 1:23), and a second Alweard Colling was a king’s thegn in Wiltshire in 1086 (Wilts. 67:14). In all three cases it is likely that Colling was a patronymic.

None of the Collings recorded before 1100 was a sizeable landowner, and the corpus as a whole has a distinct urban bias, indicating the social milieux in which the name was used.

The Phillimore edition uses the spelling Colling for the two TRE owners and the Wiltshire byname but Culling (following the DB form) for the burgesses of Colchester and Ipswich; Alecto renders the name Kollungr in the case of the TRE owners but Colling for the byname and the burgesses.

Bibliography

Biddle and Keene 1976: Martin Biddle and D. J. Keene, ‘Winchester in the eleventh and twelfth centuries’, in Winchester in the Early Middle Ages: An Edition and Discussion of the Winton Domesday, ed. Martin Biddle, Winchester Studies 1 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), 241–448

Fellows Jensen 1968: Gillian Fellows Jensen, Scandinavian Personal Names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire (Copenhagen: I Kommission hos Akademisk Forlag, 1968)

PN Lancs.: Eilert Ekwall, The Place-Names of Lancashire (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1922)

Reaney 1997: P. H. Reaney, A Dictionary of English Surnames, 3rd edn with corrections and additions by R. M. Wilson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997)

Tengvik 1938: Gösta Tengvik, Old English Bynames, Nomina Germanica 4 (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksells, 1938)

von Feilitzen 1937: Olof von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book, Nomina Germanica 3 (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksells, 1937)

von Feilitzen 1976: Olof von Feilitzen, ‘The personal names and bynames of the Winton Domesday’, in Winchester in the Early Middle Ages: An Edition and Discussion of the Winton Domesday, ed. Martin Biddle, Winchester Studies 1 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), 143–229

Winton DB: ‘The Winton Domesday’, ed. and trans. Frank Barlow, in Winchester in the Early Middle Ages: An Edition and Discussion of the Winton Domesday, ed. Martin Biddle, Winchester Studies 1 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), 1–141

Forms of the name

Spellings in Domesday Book: Collinc

Forms in modern scholarship:

von Feilitzen head forms: Kollungr

Phillimore edition: Colling, Culling

Alecto edition: Colling, Kollungr

Distribution map of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

List of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

Holder 1066

Shire Phil. ref. Vill DB Spelling Holder 1066 Lord 1066 Tenant-in-Chief 1086 1086 Subtenant Fiscal Value 1066 Value 1086 Value Conf. Show on Map
Derbyshire 6,49 Hatton Collinc Colling 'of Hatton' - Henry de Ferrers Saswalo 0.33 0.67 0.33 A Map
Shropshire 4,7,5 Steel Collinc Colling 'of Steel' - Roger, earl Roger de Courseulles 0.25 0.16 0.08 A Map
Totals

Subtenant in 1086

Shire Phil. ref. Vill DB Spelling Holder 1066 Lord 1066 Tenant-in-Chief 1086 1086 Subtenant Fiscal Value 1066 Value 1086 Value Conf. Show on Map
Essex B3a Colchester Cullinc - - William, king Colling, burgess 0.06 0.00 0.00 A Map
Suffolk 1,122d Ipswich Cullingus - - William, king Colling, burgess 0.22 0.00 0.00 A Map
Totals