Recorded in many spelling forms including Collip, Collop, Collup, Cullip, Cullop and Cullup, occasionally de Cullip, and with the probably extinct diminutive form of Cullopin, this is an English surname. It may have one of the most unusual origins of all names. According to the late Professor P H Reaney, the famous etymologist, the surname means "an egg fried on bacon", and hence was an occupational nickname surname for a inn keeper or similar, one who prepared hot food. However our research would suggest that the name may sometimes be locational from a lost medieval place known as "Col-hop," or similar, and as such describing a person who lived at a cool place in a forest. This would also seem to be born out by the occasional recordings of the surname with the "de" preposition. Early examples of the surname recording include: John Collop in the Hundred Rolls of the county of Cambridge in the year 1279, whilst Henry Colloppe appears in the Assize Register of the court of Colchester in the Essex in 1290. Later examples taken from the early surviving post reformation church registers of the diocesse of Greater London include: Beatryce Collop, at the church of St Botolphs without Aldgate, on January 19th 1560, Sarah Cullopin at St Katherines by the Tower (of London) on July 23rd 1641, and Mary Cullip, who married John Ringrose, at St Pancras Old Church, on November 30th 1812.

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