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  The O'Cuilleain (O'Collins)
  
  The O'Cuilleain (O'Collins) of West Cork trace the origins of their family to most ancient times, over 5,000 years. Over 4,600 years before surnames became common practice. They are one of the oldest royal bloodlines in human history, they are one of the most powerful priest line in human history, they are the first druids, the "shining ones" and amazingly still exist today.
 
  Given the ancient and important pedigree of the name and variances over the ages, it is also sometimes written as Cuileann, cuilieann, Cualann, Cullen, Cuilinn and Cuillin.
  
  The original meaning of the name comes from cuilieann which in primitive Gaelic meaning "holly" as in the holly tree, on account of its sacred and mystic properties. The holly tree also came to represent a symbol of the sacred geneology of ancient Ireland.
  
  The origin of the actual word Holly comes from the 11th Century Old High German hulis and Old English holegn both meaning Holly. The word hulis originates from an even older proto-Germanic word khuli a shortened derivation of the ancient Gaelic cuilieann both meaning Holly. Today in Modern Gaelic, Holly is still known as cuileann.  
  The word "Celt" is also derived from Holly as a description of the earliest leaders of Ireland. Celt comes from the ancient Greek word 'keltoi'.  
  The first literary reference to the Celtic people, as keltoi is by the Greek historian Hecataeus in 517 BC. He locates the Keltoi tribe in Rhenania (West/Southwest Germany). A similar word Khuli was in use at the time in the area through the proto-Germanic language (600 BCE), a shortened derivation of the ancient Gaelic cuilieann (1200 to 2000 BCE) both meaning Holly.  
  The distinction of the word holy and holly appeared around the 13th Century with the Old English word hālig derived from hāl meaning health, happiness and wholeness.  
  This symbolic genealogical importance placed on the holly tree and its recognition as sacred by the ancient druid religion is the original source of this belief that well over a thousand years later went onto become a major symbol of the bloodline of Christmas and the bloodline of Jesus.
 
 

The family origins are linked to the Ébla pioneers of the great Bronze Age mining and trade of Ireland and directly to King Ibbi, the last Great King of Ebla. King Ibbi, the Royal family and his court and priests fled this great and ancient Syrian city just before it was captured by Sargon the Great around 2290 BCE.

 
 

King Ibbi and the Éblaites are the original source of the great legend of the Milesians, the "Syrians", who established themselves as the first Kings of Ireland. The first name of Ireland was Ibbi-Éri "Land of Ibbi" later called Iberni, Hiberni and Ériu. Ireland's first city was Eblana "new Ebla", a site on or near Dublin.

 
 

The royal family of the Éblaites settled in and around the Wicklow Hills (Wicklow in Gaelic "Cill Mhantáin") and came to be known as the Feara Cualann ("Holy Men") from which the O'Cualann and O'Cuilleain are directly descended.

 
  The significance of the most ancient celtic words "cualann", "cuileann" and "cuilieann" to the history and spiritual heritage of Ireland is why it was so widely used in the names of special individuals and importance place names.
  
  In spite of the historic importance and ancient pedigree of the O'Cuilleain, they remained a minor sept in total numbers compared to other families. With much of the most ancient history of Ireland long destroyed and re-written, the O'Cuilleain have received relatively little attention from middle ages and modern historians.
  
  It is from this bloodline that Frank O'Collins and the O'Collins in Australia originate, his great grandfather and great grandmother having emigrated from Ireland at the end of the 19th Century.
  
  For more information on the Cuilleain/Cuileain see the Book of the Cuileann  
  For more information on the history of the Holly and Ireland, see the epic poem Lebor Clann Glas (The Book of the Green Race)  
  The O'Coilean (O'Collins)  
  'A great host with whom it is not fortunate to contend, the battle-trooped host of the O'Coileain.'
'OLD IRISH SAYING'		  
  A more recent and much more common bloodline from the 1st Century BCE are the O'Coilean (O'Collins) , famous and feared warriors of ancient times. Unlike other clans, they mostly carried a tradition of not having beards.
 
  The original Gaelic meaning for Coilean is "young warrior" or whelp/hound. In ancient Irish history, this sept had a famous and fearless reputation for their skill at battle and are the original source of the name Collins, now so common throughout England and the world.  
  The O'Coilean themselves are the direct ancestors of Cú Chulainn ("Cualann's Hound" or "Hound of the Holy Ones ") the famous hero of the Ulster Cycle from around 30 to 10 BCE. While the direct and obvious connection has long been forgotten or deliberately hidden, the Gaelic meaning of O'Coilean still connects their ancestor Cú Chulainn to them.  
  The Ulster Cycle Poems themselves bear strong resemblences to the famous myths concerning the trials of Hercules.  
  Due to pressures of defeat against the Anglo-Norman invaders, this sept was gradually driven south from County Limerick to settle in the same approximate area as the O'Cuilleain in West Cork and Cork around the end of the 12th Century. As a result, the two sept have been virtually impossible to geographically distinguish for the past eight hundred years.  
  The most ancient title of druids  
  Despite the antiquity of Cuileann/cuilieann to at least 2,000 BCE, the name itself is in fact a title, a composite of words of even more ancient origin-towards the dawn of the first language of Europe, often called PIE (proto-Indo-European).  
  In primitive Gaelic the words “eala” (swan) and “éan /éin” (bird) share strong similarity.  
  Given the importance of migratory birds to the ancient hunter gatherers of Ireland still adjusting to their isolation and end of traditional methods, it is almost certain these words also doubled as having the same meaning as “divine”.  
  In primitive Gaelic, we also have the word “coil” (woods) and “lia” (stone/physician).  
  So a combination of the probably most primitive Gaelic words of coil + lia+ éan would render a title something like “divine medicine man of the woods” or “divine holy man” a more accurate and likely title for the first druids.  
  So the cuileann, the O'Cuilleain (O'Collins), represent the literal titles of the first and true druid dynasty- the “divine medicine men of the woods”, the “divine holy men”.  

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