Sealey
Most likely a variant spelling of Seeley, a surname once used for a cheerful or innocent person.
The #8,934 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 84,242 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The historical sources treat Sealey as a variant of Seeley. That surname is commonly explained from Middle English seely, meaning “simple,” “innocent,” or “harmless,” ultimately from an older English word related to happiness or blessedness. In some cases the name may also reflect the surname Seeley from the same nickname source rather than a separate origin.
History
The name appears in several English regional spellings, especially in the West Country and in counties such as Yorkshire. Nineteenth-century surname writers often grouped Sealey with Seeley and related forms such as Seely, Seelye, and Sealy. Because the spelling varied a great deal before standardization, modern Sealey families may descend from several local lines that converged on the same written form.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One old gloss for the source word behind Seeley was “simple” or “silly” in the older sense of “innocent,” not “foolish” in the modern sense.
From the historical record
“house, mansion. SEALEY. See Seeley. SEAMAN. In Sussex and Kent, and probably in other counties, this name has been corrupted into Simmons. See Sim- mons. In the Domesday of Surrey there is a Seman, who held lands before the making of that record. A-Sax. Sae-mann, a sailor. SEAjNIARK. Probably from some emi- nence…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom