Cole Family History

English: usually from the Middle English and Old French personal name Col(e) Coll(e) Coul(e) a pet form of Nicol (see Nichol and Nicholas) a common personal name from the mid 13th century onward. English families with this name migrated to Scotland and to Ulster (especially Fermanagh). English: occasionally perhaps from a different (early) Middle English personal name Col of native English or Scandinavian origin.

Old English Cola was originally a nickname from Old English col ‘coal’ in the sense ‘coal-black (of hair) swarthy’ and is the probable source of most of the examples in Domesday Book. In the northern and eastern counties of England settled by Vikings in the 10th and 11th centuries, alternative sources are Old Norse Kolr and Koli (either from a nickname ‘the swarthy one’ or a short form of names in Kol-) and Old Norse Kollr (from a nickname perhaps ‘the bald one’).

English: nickname for someone with swarthy skin or black hair from Middle English col coul(e) ‘charcoal coal’ (Old English col). Scottish and Irish: when not of English origin this is a shortened and altered form of McCool.

French (northern mainly Seine-Maritime): from a short form of the personal name Nicolas (see Nicholas). Compare 1 above and Colle. Americanized form of German Kohl.

Americanized form of Dutch Kool. In some cases particularly in New England, Americanized form (translation into English; compare 3 above) of French Charbonneau.