Curley
Usually a nickname surname meaning “curly-haired,” though in some cases it may come from the bird name curlew or from an English/Norman place-name.
The #2,936 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 25,284 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is most often explained from Middle English or Anglo-French words for someone with curly hair, related to the same root seen in surnames like Curl and Curll. Some writers also connect it with the bird-name curlew, treating it as a nickname based on the bird’s call or appearance. A separate place-name origin is also possible in some lines, with an early Norman record such as de Curley pointing to a locational surname.
History
The name is found in England in medieval records, and later scholarship also notes a possible Norman locational source. In Ireland it became established especially in counties such as Roscommon, Galway, and Dublin, and it is now strongly associated with Irish families as well as English-speaking diaspora communities. Because the surname has more than one plausible source, different family lines may not share the same origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname studies sometimes grouped Curley with other “appearance” surnames like Smart, Trim, and Handy, because they all began as descriptive nicknames.
From the historical record
“Curly. A loc. n., Norm. John de Curley in Warwickshire. Rot. Obi. et Fin., K. John. Curnock. From Carnock ; a loc. n., Fife”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)