Standley
A surname usually treated as a variant of Stanley, likely originally meaning “stone/rock meadow” or “stony clearing.”
The #7,421 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 68,824 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Historical surname dictionaries commonly treat Standley as a spelling variant of Stanley. The underlying place-name element is usually explained from Old English stan, meaning “stone” or “rock,” plus leah, meaning a clearing, meadow, or woodland opening. In some local-name interpretations, the first element is also connected with a rocky hill or stony hill site.
History
The name appears in English records as a variant spelling rather than a separate surname in its own right. Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century surname writers especially linked it to Stanley and to English place-names such as Standon or similar localities. The modern surname is relatively uncommon in the United States and Britain compared with Stanley.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some older surname books explicitly file Standley under Stanley, showing how flexible spelling could be before modern standardization.
From the historical record
“iii. 140-2. STANDLEY for Stanley, q.v. STAN DON (Eng.) Bel. to Standon ; or Dweller at the Rocky Hill [O.E. stdn, a stone, rock + dun, a hill] Standon, Herts, was Standuneia a Latin charter, a.d. 944-6 ; but Standon, Staffs, ace. to Duignan, wasStantone (cp.Stanton) in Domesday-Book (this is, however,”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)