Olney
A locational surname for someone from Olney in Buckinghamshire, England.
The #9,932 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 95,057 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Olney is a habitational surname taken from the town of Olney in Buckinghamshire. The place-name is usually traced to Old English elements interpreted as a personal name plus a word for an island or river-meadow, though 19th-century writers differ in the exact breakdown. In surname use, it simply meant “from Olney.”
History
The name is recorded early in medieval English sources, with forms such as de Olney in Domesday-era and later medieval records. It developed as a standard English locational surname and later spread beyond Buckinghamshire through ordinary migration. Modern bearers are found mainly in English-speaking countries, especially the United States and the UK.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some older surname dictionaries note an early bearer, Roger de Olnei, in Buckinghamshire records connected with the Domesday period.
From the historical record
“OLLIVER. See Oliver. OLNEY. A town in co. Buckingham. A Roger de Olnei occxirs in the Domesday of that county, as an under-tenant. OLORENSHAW. See Olerenshaw. OLYFADER. A XIII. cent, surname, probably applied as a sobriquet to some one who frequently profaned the phrase " Holy Father." O'LYNE. An ancient sept in…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom