Whaley
A surname usually taken from a place name, especially Whalley or Whaley in northern England.
The #1,575 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 13,522 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Whaley is generally explained as a habitational surname, meaning someone who came from a place called Whalley or Whaley. The place-name is commonly analyzed from Old English elements referring to a clearing or meadow associated with personal name elements, though 19th-century writers sometimes varied in the details. In practice, the surname is treated as a northern English locational name tied especially to Lancashire and Cheshire.
History
Historical surname dictionaries link Whaley chiefly with Whalley in Lancashire and Whaley in Cheshire. The spelling has long varied, and related forms such as Whalley and Walley appear in older records. The name is established in English records by the early modern period and later spread beyond its original local centers.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname works note that Whaley and Whalley were often treated as near-equivalent spellings of the same local name.
From the historical record
“WHALEBONE for Walbopn, q.v. WHALEY (Eng.) Bel. to Whaley; doubtless the same name as Whal ley, q.v. WHALLEY (Eng.) Bel. to Whalley (Lane), the M.E. Whalley{e, Whallay, Walley, Wallay, Qualley, Quallay, A.-Sax. ('Chron.' A.D. 798) Hwealledh = Hweala's or Hw.ela'sLea [the pers. name is f. O.E. hwcEl, hwal{l, bold…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)