Gulley
Usually a surname that likely grew from a Norman or Scandinavian personal name later reshaped in England.
The #3,366 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 29,113 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The best-supported explanation is that Gulley is a shortened English form of an older personal name such as Old Norse Gudleif or a related Norman spelling. These names are built from elements meaning “god” plus “heir, relic, or inheritance,” so the original sense is devotional rather than descriptive. Some 19th-century writers also connected the surname with forms like Gully or Gulliver, showing how freely medieval spellings could shift over time.
History
Historical surname writers noted forms such as Gulleiv and related spellings in medieval records, and later English usage seems to have simplified the name to Gulley. The same older name-family also appears in the surname Gulliver, which helped some antiquarian authors trace the connection. Because spellings were fluid, Gulley may reflect several local lines rather than one single origin in every case.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 20th-century surname writer explicitly connected Gulley with the better-known Gulliver, treating both as descendants of the same old name-form.
From the historical record
“loc. n., Norm. Or N. GuSleifr ; A.S. Guthlaf (divine relic); D. Gulleiv; Fr. Gually, Gulley ; p.n. VV. Gollay in Rot. Hund., 1272. Gumbleton. From Gomeldon ; a loc. n., Wilts”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)