Buckley
Usually a surname from a place-name: “of Buckley,” especially the Cheshire township, though some bearers may descend from other local Buckley names.
The #834 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 7,467 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Buckley is best known as a locational surname, originally meaning someone who came from a place called Buckley. The name is tied especially to Buckley in Cheshire, and older writers also connected it with other local Buckley forms and nearby surname variants such as Bulkeley. The place-name itself is generally understood as Old English in form, with the first element likely referring to a buck (male deer) and the second to a clearing or woodland opening.
History
In medieval records the surname appears as a place-based byname, and later it became established in Cheshire, Lancashire, and nearby regions. Some 19th-century writers also suggested confusion or blending with Bulkeley, which may explain certain spellings and family lines. The name is now widespread in the English-speaking world, especially in countries shaped by British migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some older surname dictionaries treat Buckley and Bulkeley as closely related or even historically interchangeable in certain local family lines.
From the historical record
“thought to be a corruption of Beauclerk. BUCKLEY. A township in Cheshire. BUCKMAN. One who had the care of bucks. BUCKMASTER. One who had the care of deer, or who superintended the sport of stag-huntiug. BUCKN ALL, —NELL, -NILL. Pa- rishes, &c., in cos. Lincoln, Stafford, Oxon, and Hereford.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom