Guild of One-Name Studies
One-name studies, Genealogy
Study: Culbert
Category: 2 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is well under way, but currently in some countries only.
Guild hosted website: culbert.one-name.net
DNA website: www.familytreedna.com/groups/culbert/about
Contact: Mr James Culbert
I am looking for CULBERT researchers in Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand to help me with this study. If interested, please contact me.
In Ireland, the surname CULBERT may stem from CULBHEART, which is said to be a Gaelic form of 'crafty'. Crafty is related to 'wisdom,' which is a Gaelic form of CUTHBERT, and this may suggest there is a connection between these surnames. CULBRATH is an eighteenth century variant of CULBERT in County Monaghan, Ireland according to CULBERTSON researcher Dale Leppard. It is also believed that CULBERT is derived from CUTBERT, and this earlier spelling is very similar to CUTHBERT and CUTHBERTSON, and another possible reason for the close relationship between these surnames. In Ireland, I have found that the CULBERT, CULBERTSON and CUTHBERTSON surnames are sometimes used interchangeably.
There is one apparently similar surname, CULBER, for which I have yet to find any evidence that it is related to CULBERT.
Although there are a multitude of variants for this surname, none are currently registered with the Guild of One-Name Studies.
Edward MacLysaght, in his 1999 book, The Surnames of Ireland, 6th Ed., Irish Academic Press, (Dublin, Ireland and Portland, Oregon, USA), states that CULBERT is of Huguenot (French Protestant) origin, and found mainly in Ireland's northern province of Ulster. If this origin is correct, it would suggest that CULBERT families left France with great numbers of other Huguenots destined for other parts of Europe and the British Isles in the years following the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in Paris on 24 Aug 1572. However, I have yet to find evidence of this migration among the CULBERTs.
In France today the CULBERT surname is not common. Rather, it is the COLBERT surname that is prevalent. Only a few links have been found between CULBERT and COLBERT.
Australia (New South Wales) 1891 - 9
Canada 1842 - 2 (Upper Canada) 1851 - 48 1861 - 2 (Nova Scotia) 1861 - 7 (Quebec) 1861 - 13 (New Brunswick) 1861 - 125 (Ontario) 1871 - 174 1881 - 256 1891 - 224 1901 - 226 1911 - 259 1916 - 63 (Prairie Provinces) 1926 - 83 (Prairie Provinces)
Ireland 1831 - 7 [this is an incomplete record, as the census was lost] 1851 - 115 [this is an incomplete record, as the census was lost] 1901 - 283 1911 - 316
UK (England and Wales) 1841 - 42 1861 - 100 1871 - 79 1881 - 91 1891 - 134 1901 - 128 1911 - 160
USA 1790 - 2 1800 - 1 1810 - 5 1820 - 14 1830 - 12 1840 - 35 1850 - 211 1860 - 385 1870 - 551 1880 - 620 1900 - 920 1910 - 1018 1920 - 1177 1930 - 1271 1940 - 1401
Other countries with a large amount of Culberts, for which census records are unavailable at FamilySearch, include Scotland and New Zealand.
See the Culbert Family Genealogy Project (link below) to see updated data information.