LaValley
A French surname likely formed from a place-name or phrase beginning with "la vallée," meaning "the valley."
The #8,954 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 84,449 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is most likely French in origin and probably reflects the phrase "la vallée," meaning "the valley." In many French surnames, a prefixed article such as "La" or "Le" points to a topographic or locational origin, identifying someone from a valley or from a place called Vallee/Valley. The historical spellings cited in older surname works suggest this family name was grouped with other French forms beginning in "Lav-" and may have been influenced by regional pronunciation and spelling variation.
History
Older surname dictionaries list Lavalley alongside other French names such as Lavalle and Lavault, which suggests it was already recognized as a French-form surname by the 19th century. In English-speaking countries, the name is often found with spelling variation and occasional capitalization as LaValley, especially in North America. Its modern distribution in the United States likely reflects French or French-Canadian migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Many surnames that start with "La-" in French trace back to an everyday landscape feature, so "Lavalley" is a good example of a name that may have originally meant simply "from the valley."
From the historical record
“English Lavell, Levell — French Labelle, Lavalle, Lavalley, Lebel. French Labiche, Lebocq. French Leflon. English La vis, Levis — French Lebiez. PHONETIC ending. Old German Leibin, Laifin, 9th cent. — English Lavin,”
— The Teutonic Name-System applied to the family names of France, England and Germany