Schooley
A surname most likely tied to a Scandinavian-style place name meaning “hut lea” or “shed meadow.”
The #8,342 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 77,809 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is usually taken as a habitational or locational surname from a place called or described as a "shut/shed lea" or "hut meadow." The first element is linked to Old Norse skali, meaning a hut or shed, passed through Middle English forms, and the second is Middle English / Old English lea, meaning a meadow or clearing. In older scholarship, Schooley is also treated as a variant or related form of Scholey, with the same basic meaning.
History
19th-century surname writers place the name in northern England, especially Yorkshire, and connect it with early medieval local forms there. The spelling Schooley appears to be a later or variant rendering of Scholey, which helped stabilize the modern surname form. The name is uncommon but has survived in English-speaking countries, especially the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older authors explicitly glossed the name as something like “the hut- or shed-lea,” showing how vividly place-based many English surnames are.
From the historical record
“SCHOLEY 1 (Scand. -I-Eng.) Bel. to Sc(h)oley SCHOOLEY;(Yorks), leth csnl. SchoUy, 14th cent. Sco/fly= the Hut- or Shed-Lea [M.E. sc{h)ole, a form of O.N. skdli. a hut, shed -1- M.E. ley, lay, O.E. ledK]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)