Hanley
A surname usually meaning “one who came from Hanley,” a place name built from old words for “old” and “meadow” or “clearing.”
The #1,864 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 16,047 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Hanley is a locational surname taken from places called Hanley in England. One early source glosses the place-name as coming from old elements meaning “old” and “ley,” a meadow, clearing, or common pasture. In modern place-name studies, the first element is often linked to Old English \u00abh\u0143n\u0113g\u00bb or a similar form meaning “high” or sometimes interpreted differently in older scholarship, so the exact first element is not entirely certain in every case.
History
The name was used for people identified by origin from Hanley in Staffordshire, Worcestershire, or Lincolnshire, and early records show medieval spellings such as de Hanle. It became established as a hereditary surname in England and later spread through the British Isles and to North America. Variants such as Handley and Handly often reflect the same local surname tradition and later spelling drift.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Hanley is one of several surnames that can look like a patronymic but is actually a place-name surname.
From the historical record
“being added for "son;" so "Sims," and " Gibbs," etc. HANLEY. Local. From the town of Hanley, in Shropshire. The old place or field, from Hen or Han, old, and ley, a place, a common. HANSEL. Local. (Saxon.) A free market or hall, from haunse or hanse, a society, hansa, Gothic, a multitude, and sel, a hall. HANSON.…”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names