Coyle
An Irish surname commonly understood as a reduced form of Mac Cumhaill, the name behind Finn MacCool.
The #1,800 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 15,491 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Coyle is generally treated as an anglicized form of an Irish surname based on Mac Cumhaill, the old Gaelic name associated with the hero Finn Mac Cumhail. In older spellings and local usage, this could appear in shortened or altered forms such as Coole, Coiles, or Cole. The literal sense behind the Gaelic source is not fully transparent in the English form, but the surname is tied to that traditional Irish family name rather than to the English word "coil" or "cool."
History
Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century surname writers regularly grouped Coyle with Irish forms derived from Mac Cumhaill, and they noted related spellings such as Coole and Coiles. The name is especially associated with Ireland, and it spread widely through later Irish migration, including to Britain, North America, and the wider English-speaking world. Some regional and manuscript evidence suggests spelling variation and local simplification were common over time.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older Gaelic tradition links the name family to Finn Mac Cumhaill, the legendary hero known in English as Fingal or Finn MacCool.
From the historical record
“M-Gi!!,j. COYLE. Coiles. 6'). Coole. 319. M'llhovle. 59. Surnames, with Varieties and Synonymes.”
— Varieties and Synonymes of Surnames and Christian Names in Ireland