Healey
A surname usually from a place name, especially in Yorkshire or Lancashire, meaning someone who came from Healey or a similar settlement.
The #3,445 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 29,773 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Healey is generally taken as a locational surname. It points to places named Healey, Heley, or similar, especially in Yorkshire and Lancashire. The place-name element is usually explained from Old English words meaning a high or sloping clearing or meadow, so the literal sense is something like "the clearing on the hill" or "the hillside meadow."
History
19th-century surname dictionaries consistently treat Healey as a local surname, with ties to Yorkshire and Lancashire place names. The spelling has produced several common variants, including Healy and Heeley. In Ireland, Healey can also overlap with forms from Gaelic surnames, so not every modern bearer has the same origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One old surname guide links Healey with several English townships and chapelries of the same or similar name, which is why the surname can show up in more than one region.
From the historical record
“ses-are-killed-for-the-food-of-dogs ! !" HEALEY.* See also O'Haly. HEASMAN.* Ilyseman was an A-Sax. baptismal name, Hysemauues Thorn. Codex. Dipl. iii. 313. HELDE. Germ, held, a hero, champion. HENNESY. See O'Hennesy. HERINGOD. The same as Ilerlngaud. Tliis name was influential in Sussex in the”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom