This surname is derived from an occupation. 'the collier,' i.e. a charcoal burner. '1598, Jan. 8. Buried, a daughter of a collier at Blawith' (Registers, Ulverston). An Act of Parliament (Elizabeth) is entitled, 'An Act that timber shall not be felled to make coals for the burning of iron.' The Psalmist speaks of 'coals of juniper.' Collier is the term still used throughout Furness and along the Duddon for a charcoal burner. The fuel was used in the bloom-smithies. See Ashburner and Bloomer.

Adam Colier, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Benedictus Colier, 1379: ibid.

John le Collier. Calendarium Rotulorum Patentium in Turri Londinensi.

Henry le Colyer, Buckinghamshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Robert le Cohere, Bedfordshire, ibid.

Thomas le Colier, Huntingdonshire, ibid.

1570. Zachary Collyer and Alice Hawkyns: Marriage Lic. (London).

The word collier originally meant a charcoal-burner and not, as now, a coal-miner. John Colzear was piper in Dunfermline in 1582 (Dunfermline), and another John Coilzear was retoured heir of John Coilzear de Lochgellie his father in 1606 (Retours, Fife, 163). Major David Coolyear referred to in 1667 (Bruces of Airth, p. xxvi) is doubtless the Major David Robertson alias Collyar in the parish of Tillicoultrie mentioned in 1671 (Dunblane). This major may be the person referred to by Macfarlane: "A Robertson a Branch from the family of Strowan Changed his name from Robertson to Collier having got out of Scotland to Holland for a Slaughter in a Collier Ship from Culross to Holland. Settled there and called himself Collier he came to be a Collonell in the Service of the States" (Macfarlane, II, p. 314—315). William Coalyear in Craigiewall, 1674 (Edin. App.). Colyeer 1679, Colzear 1563.

This well known English name is included here because it has been in Ireland at least since 1305, when Thomas Colyere was one of a guard appointed by the seneschal of Trim, Co. Meath. In that barony there is a place called Collierstown; in another part of Meath there is another Collierstown and a Colliersland. The latter is mentioned in a Fiant of 1543.The name is found intermittently up to the late sixteenth century when the Elizabethan Captain Collier was prominent. In the next century, though historically it is connected with Co. Derry, we find it listed by Petty as a principal Irish (sic) name in the barony of Dunleek, Co. Meath. Coluer is similarly returned for the barony of Shelbourne, Co. Wexford but I am assuming that this, i.e. Coluer, is a variant of Colfer. In this connexion it should be noted that Co.

Wexford and the adjacent counties of Carlow and Kilkenny are its present main location. In the middle of the last century it was also quite numerous in Queen's County (Leix).

The present Bishop of Ossory is Dr. Collier; Father Anthony Collier, who was shot by Communists in Korea in 1950, was from Co. Louth. The derivation of the name is simple: it means a charcoal burner.

In the form Colyear it is counted as a branch of the Scottish clan Robertson.

(English) orig. Charcoal Burner or Seller; later also Coal-Seller [Middle English colter— Middle English col, Old English col, coal, charcoal]

This English name, on record in Ireland since 1305, was well enough established in Co. Meath to be reckoned in Petty’s “census” of 1659 as a principal Irish name there. It is now mainly found in Cos. Carlow, Kilkenny and Wexford. SIF 37

(English) One who worked, or dealt, in coal, a coal miner; one who made wood charcoal; one who worked in, or came from, the village of Caulieres in France.

A maker of charcoal, formerly a much more important and common occupation than now. In medieval documents it is written Le Coliere, Carbonarius, &c.

This name was assumed by an ancestor of the family, because when hotly pursued by his enemies he hid himself in a coal pit.

A name of occupation, a dealer or workman in coals.

Collier: Although originally a charcoal-burner, the name came to be used for the dealer in the town in charcoal and in sea-coal.