Coulter (surname)

Coulter is a surname of Scottish and Irish origin.

Coulter
Origin
Region of originScotland, Ireland

Coulter most likely first originated as a toponymic surname in Scotland among people from areas around Coulter in South Lanarkshire or Maryculter and Peterculter in Aberdeenshire.[1][2] The etymological origins of these place names may be from Scottish Gaelic cùl tir, meaning 'back land', or (at least in the case of the Lanarkshire village) from a distortion of the Scots language Cootyre, meaning a safe place to store cows.

After the Plantation of Ulster when people with the surname migrated from Scotland to the northernmost province of Ireland, the Irish surname Uí Coltarain, meaning "descendants of Coltarain", appears to have been anglicised to Coulter. The Uí Coltarain were chiefs of the petty-kingdom of Dál Coirbin (within what became the barony of Castlereagh), in the over-kingdom of Ulaid.[3]

Notable people
Lt. Gen. John B. Coulter, thrice recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)

Fictional characters:

  • Eric Coulter, character in Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy.
  • Marisa Coulter, character in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy

Places

See also

References
  1. "Surname Database: Coulter Last Name Origin". The Internet Surname Database. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  2. "Coulter Name Meaning, Family History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms". HouseOfNames. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  3. John O'Hart, Irish Pedigrees; or, The Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation, 5th edition, in two volumes, originally published in Dublin in 1892, reprinted, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1976, Vol. 1, p. 819
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