This interesting surname of Irish origin with variant spellings Scullion, Scullen, Sculling, etc. is a diminutive of the name Scully, an Anglicized form of the Gaelic O Scolaidhe meaning "descendant of the scholar" from "Scolaidhe", "scholar". The O Scullions were erenaghs of Ballyscullion in the deanery of Rathlowry, diocese of Derry, and is very rare outside of Ulster. Church recordings include one Ann, daughter of Thomas and Ann Sculling, was christened on January 25th 1735 at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, Sarah, daughter of Thomas and Bridgett Scullion, was christened on April 19th 1784, at Moira in County Down, and Rachel Mary daughter of Daniel and Mary Scullion, was christened on November 27th 1785, at St. Andrew's, Holborn. Nancy, daughter of Daniel and Mary Scullion, was christened at Drumachose, Londonderry on April 3rd 1812. One Oliver Scullion, aged 20, a famine emigrants sailed from Liverpool aboard the Ashburton bound for New York on March 7th 1846. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William O Scully who property was passed into ecclesiastical possession, which was dated 1256, Co. Dublin, during the reign of King Henry 111, "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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