Wadley
A habitational surname from places named with an old personal name plus “lea,” meaning “Wada’s meadow.”
The #8,342 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 77,809 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Wadley is generally treated as a habitational surname, taken from Wadley in Berkshire. The name is usually explained as Old English Wada + lēah, meaning “Wada’s clearing” or “Wada’s meadow.” The first element is a personal name seen in other English place-names and surnames, while the second is the common Old English word that later gave modern English “lea” or “ley.”
History
19th-century surname dictionaries link Wadley to the Berkshire place-name, and they note early spellings such as de Wadele. The surname later appears in English records and was carried overseas, including to the United States, where it remains uncommon but established. Some older writers glossed the place-name a little differently, but the general locational explanation is consistent across the sources.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bardsley and Harrison both connect Wadley with a Berkshire place-name rather than with a descriptive nickname, which is typical of many English surnames ending in -ley.
From the historical record
“WAt)LEIGH \ (Eng.) Bel. to Wadley = (prob.) WADLEY J Wada's Lea [v. under Wade', and + O.E. ledh (M.E. ley, etc.] There is a Wadley in Berks, and a 'Hugh de Wadele' occurs in the Norfolk Hundred-Rolls. WADLOW (Eng.) Bel. to Wadlow = Wada's Hill or Tumulus [In a Latin charter of Caedwalla, king of Wessex, dated A.D.…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)