Welcome to the Colleran surname project. This is a rare surname found most commonly today in Counties Mayo and Galway. Oldest recorded instances of the surname: Shane O'Calleran (Fiants of Elizabeth 1601 , Carne, Co. Westmeath, source confirmed) Teag O'Calleran (Rebels list of Ireland 1601) Mary Colleran 1826 in Tithe Applotment (Galway) Bryan Colleran, 1827 in Tithe Applotment (Sligo) William Colleran, 1828 in Tithe Applotment (Rosscommon) Martin Colerana 1833 Tithe Applotment (Mayo) Excerpt from: Irish names and surnames by Reverend Patrick Woulfe Ó Callaráin - Calleran, Colleran; Perhaps a corruption of Mac Allmhuraín; a rare Connacht surname. Mac Allmhuraín - Colleran; 'son of Allmhuran; found in parts of Connacht; probably the correct original of Ó Callaráin. Excerpt from More Irish Families by Edward MacLysaght, chief Herald of Ireland who built upon the works of Reverend Patrick Woulfe: (O) Colleran - I am informed by Mr. P.J Kennedy that Gaelic speakers in Co. Galway use the form Ó Callaráin and in the north eastern part of the county it is so pronounced also by English speakers; that and Co. Mayo is its main location. in 1785 the parochial census carried out by the parish priest found eleven families of the name in Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo; in 1866 all the 17 births registered for it were in north Connacht and again in 1890 all the births were in Counties Mayo and Galway, while the statistics of the present day show that they are still there. Woulfe makes the tentative suggestion that Ó Callaráin is a corrupt form of Mac Allmhuraín. As we meet Ó Callaráin as far back as 1602 I prefer to accept it as an O name. That reference is, however, not to a place in Connacht but to the barony of Fertullagh in Co. Westmeath and in the seventeenth century we do meet occasional references to Collerans in Leinster. Colleran lines range across Mayo, Sligo, Rosscommon, Galway and Clare (Connacht) while there are others (Less commonly) in Leinster. Currently, R-L1336 is an SNP that people with this surname share. L1336 is found most commonly in County Clare. It has been called ‘The North Clare’ SNP. The SNP's: L1336 > FGC32649 > BY15552 seem to be the most relevant SNP's in terms of identifying a kinship group. The following surnames have these SNP's: Colleran, McKinley, Gavin, Cunningham, Payne, Considine, Collinsworth and Doran. Colleran - Unclear origins, most commonly found in Galway and Mayo. There is a place in Ulster called Coleraine. McKinley - A surname commonly found in Scotland and County Donegal. Gavin - A surname found in County Clare, it is also found in Scotland. Cunningham - This is a surname found in both Scotland and Ireland. It can be the anglicized form of the Gaelic name Connegan. There is a Clan Cunningham of Scotland, with many Cunningham's settling in County Donegal. It's possible that one of these families migrated to Clare. Payne - A Norman surname, it is found in County Clare. Considine - A prominent Clare maritime family. Collinsworth - An English surname.