There can be little doubt that there were, at the very least, two lineages of Cullen in southeast Wexford from about the mid-14'th to the mid-17'th centuries. It's interesting that MacLysaght did not make any particular distinction between the two though his discussion of the families was brief. One family is said to have been Anglo-Norman, descendants of adventurers who arrived from the continent some time after 1170 and took the name Cullin or Cullen. The other family was a native Gaelic sept according to tradition and were found with the names of O'Cullin or O'Cullen. The distinction between the two names Cullen and O'Cullen was recognized in the 1659 survey in Co Wexford which reports that 25 Cullins or Cullens (Normanised families) were living in the baronies of Bargy and Shelbourne, while a greater population of 140 O'Cullins or O'Cullens were living in the Irish baronies of Shelmalier (East and West). By the mid-19'th century however, the O' had been dropped from the name of the Gaelic sept and so both Norman and Gaelic families were known as Cullen or Cullin. That the Gaelic Cullens dwelt in an area to the north of the Norman family is not surprising. With the arrival of the Normans came quite a bit of resistance from the native residents and the result was that the Gaelic sept was forced to relocate to the north. This division between the Norman and Gaelic families was not absolute and certainly Gaelic Cullens dwelt peacefully amidst the Norman family and vice versa. In time the Normans assimilated themselves into the native culture, blending their lifestyle with that of the Irish, creating a unique new culture often quoted as being "more Irish than the Irish themselves".