O’Donovan is most likely correct when he states that this is an English place-name signifying ‘cold cots or huts’ (17).

This townland is located on the edge of Wexford Town in the parish of Carrick, where there was extensive Anglo-Norman settlement, with some amount of subsequent regaelicisation (cf. BALLINDINAS; BALLYGOMAN; COLLEGE; COLESTOWN; CARRICK; CARRICKLAWN). It also borders the barony of Forth, which together with Bargy was the heartland of ‘English’ Wexford (see Introduction). The adjective cool (cold) occurs in the names COLDBLOW (par. Tacumshin; par. Lady’s Island) and COOLPEACH (par. Drinagh), and the English dialect word cott “cottage” is also found in COTTS (par. Tacumshin); the occurrence of a compound of cool and cott in a place-name in this general area is therefore unproblematic. The variant forms Coldcut and Colecot occur elsewhere in the English Pale (both are found in Dublin), and can be compared to the English toponyms Caldecote, Caldecott and Calcot (see DEPN p.63; see also EDD cot(t)). [The same place-name, namely 'Collcott', was also found near Ratoath in Meath, but it is now defunct (see Inq. Lag. CI 88 (Meath))].

Derivation from an Irish place-name, e.g. *Cúil Choite, is very unlikely here. The English name is quite straightforward, and the initial element in early historical examples such as ‘Colcottis’ (1) and ‘Calcotts’ (3) clearly reflects English col(d), cal(d) rather than any Irish element such as cúil or cúl.

The evidence also demonstrates that the townland was subdivided for a long period between Esmond’s and Turner’s portions, and that it also had the alias ‘Waddingsland’ (11a). The surnames Esmond and Wadding are recorded among the early Anglo-Norman settlers in Wexford (see Colfer, 2002 pp.260, 266; cf. WADDINGSLAND, par. Kilrane; WADDINGTOWN, par. Ballyconnick), while Turner is also found in the place-name BALLINTURNER (par. Ballycarney). It is probable that these subdivisions were linked to Anglo-Norman settlers rather than later New English planters.

In light of the transparent nature of the evidence for this townland name it can be translated with Na Botha Fuara “the cold cottages” (cf. Coldcut and Colecot < An Bhoth Fhuar (D); see logainm.ie).

It has often been suggested locally that Coolcotts is in some way related to the surname of a boatbuilder once active in Wexford, Anthony Van Kaat, but this cannot be the case. The linguistic evidence above is not consistent with that surname, and moreover, the place-name is attested long before the mid-seventeenth century when Van Kaat first arrived in Wexford (see O’Leary & Rossiter, 2014 p.94).

[It has been stated elsewhere that this place-name ‘may be either Norman or Viking’ ([details to be added]). However, as English has been the dominant language in south Wexford over the past 800 years — since the early days of the Anglo-Norman colony — the place-name Coolcots, readily derivable from English, cannot be used as an indicator of Norse settlement.]

[Excerpt from Logainmneacha na hÉireann IV: Townland Names of County Wexford, 2016, with additional commentary in square brackets [ ].]