Weakley
An English surname most likely from Weekley, the village in Northamptonshire, rather than from the adjective “weak.”
The #9,403 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 89,284 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Weakley is generally treated as a locational surname, from Weekley, a place near Kettering in Northamptonshire. The place name is usually taken as Old English in origin, though the exact elements are not always explained with certainty in the older sources. The surname therefore meant “one from Weekley.”
History
19th-century surname writers commonly grouped Weakley with Weekley and Weekly as local surnames from the Northamptonshire village. Some older authors also noticed the form’s resemblance to the word weak, but most treated that as a misleading coincidence rather than the real source. The spelling has varied over time, including Weakley, Weekley, and Weekly.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname collections record Weakley, Weekley, and Weekly together as spellings linked to the same village name.
From the historical record
“WEAFER = Weaver, q.v. WEAKLEY = Weekley, q.v. WEAKLIN = Wakelin, q.v. WEAL 1 (Eng.) i Dweller at a Well [O.E. WEALE I wiellal WEAL L J 2 = Wale, q.v. WEALD (Eng.) Dweller at a Weald or Forest [O.E. weald]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)