Rowley
A mostly English surname from places called Rowley, likely meaning either “rough lea” or “roe-deer meadow.”
The #2,338 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 19,807 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Rowley is a habitational surname taken from one of several English places called Rowley, especially in Yorkshire and Staffordshire. The place-name is usually explained from Old English words meaning either “rough” plus “leah” (a clearing or meadow) or “roe” plus “leah,” giving the sense of “rough clearing” or “roe-deer meadow.” 19th-century writers record early spellings such as Rueleg, Roley, and other medieval forms that support a long place-name history.
History
The surname is well attested in medieval England, with early bearers appearing in Yorkshire records by the 13th century. Later branches spread into other parts of Britain, and some families carried the name to Ireland in the early modern period. Older writers sometimes claimed a Saxon pedigree for the family, but the surname itself is best understood as locational.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bardsley noted that both the Yorkshire and Staffordshire Rowleys had already given rise to surnames by the Middle Ages.
From the historical record
“ROWLES, a var. of Rolles, q.v. ROWLEY (Eng.) Bel. to Rowley = i the Rough Lea [M.E. rou, rowi etc., O.E. rAh, roiigh, wild + M.E. ley, etc., O.E. ledh, a meadow] 2 the Roe-Lea [M.E.w, O.E. rd, a roe + M.E. ley, etc., O.E. ledh, a meadow] The Staffs Rowley was Rueleg, Route, in the I2th and 13th cent. The Yorks”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)