The origin of the name Cooley is Irish and the Coat of Arms contains An ermine shield a black chevron on which there are three gold leopards faces jellopped. The Crest is A Leopard's face jellopped.
Spelling variations include: Cooley, Cooling, Cowley, Cully, Colly, McCooley, Coaley, Coolyng, Couley, Colley, McCowley, Cooleng, McCoolay, Coolay, Collay, Cullay, Cowleigh, Culleigh and many more.
First found in Ulster where they held a family seat from very ancient times.
Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: William, being a mariner of New London in 1634. John Cooley settled at Salem, Massachusetts, in the year 1638. Peter Cooley was a freeman of Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1664.
