Turley
Usually an English surname from a place-name, likely meaning “Thor’s clearing” or a similar “-ley” field name.
The #3,398 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 29,337 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Turley is generally treated as a locational name, most likely from an English place-name such as Thorley or a similar form. The first element is usually explained as the personal name Thor/Thur or an equivalent old Germanic name, combined with Old English \"leah,\" meaning a clearing, meadow, or open woodland. In older surname books, the spelling is also linked with Torley and Thorley, showing how medieval spellings shifted over time.
History
19th- and early 20th-century surname writers place Turley among English place-based surnames and connect it with medieval forms like Torley or Thorley. The name is recorded in England by the 13th century in the sources cited, and later spread more widely through ordinary English migration and, in some lines, to Ireland and North America. Some older works also speculate on alternative spellings or related forms, but the locational explanation is the most consistent.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname dictionaries often grouped Turley with Thorley, showing how a single family name could appear in several spellings before spelling became standardized.
From the historical record
“TURLE;}forTeaHe, q.v. TURLEY = Torley, q.v. TURLOUGH = Tonlogh, q.v. TURNBULL (Eng.) a nickname of courage and strength, Turn-the-Bull [f. O.E. turnian, to turn -)- 6m;-] The well - known incident of King”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)