From Ó Cuill, ‘hazel’ — mistranslated into Woods through its resemblance to coill, ‘wood’, and carried by a distinguished Munster bardic family.
The Woods certificate.
Digital €19.99 · Printed €39.99 · Framed €89.99. 20% off at checkout.
Gaelic Origin · Root meaning ‘hazel’ (mistranslated as ‘wood’)
Woods comes from Ó Cuill, built on coll, ‘hazel’ — anglicised as Woods purely because cuill sounds like coill, ‘wood’, a mistranslation that stuck. The family were first found in Cork and Kerry, part of the old territory of Desmond, and belonged to a distinguished bardic family: Cinnfaelidh Ó Cuill, chief poet of Munster, died in 1048, and a second Cinnfaelidh Ó Cuill, Chief of His Name, in 1507.
A name for a tree that became a name for a forest by accident — and still produced two chief poets along the way.
Irish form: Ó Cuill
