Shipley
A habitational surname from places named for a sheep meadow or sheep clearing.
The #1,831 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 15,782 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Shipley is a place-name surname from English localities called Shipley. The name is generally explained from Old English elements meaning "sheep" and a clearing or meadow, so the literal sense is something like "sheep pasture" or "sheep lea." Some later writers also connect it with a sheep enclosure or sheep-ham, but the usual surname explanation is simply that it identifies someone who came from a place called Shipley.
History
The surname appears in medieval records with spellings such as Scipeleia and Scheplay, showing its long English local history. Several counties in England have places called Shipley, so the surname arose independently in more than one area. It was later carried to North America and remains most common in England and the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In old records, Shipley is linked especially with Yorkshire place-names, including a Shipley near Bradford that became the best-known bearer of the name.
From the historical record
“sign. SHIPLEY. Parishes, &c., in cos. Sussex, Derby, Northumberland, York, &c. SHIPMAN. A mariner. This word is used in the authorized version of the Bible. SHIPPEN. A-Sax. scipen, a stall or stable. A cow-house is still so called in the North. The French equivalent is Bouverie.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Shipley
- Jenny Shipley (b. 1952)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.