Woodley
A habitational surname meaning someone from a wood clearing or from one of several English places called Woodley/Woodleigh.
The #5,026 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 44,220 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Woodley is usually explained as a habitational name from places in England called Woodley or Woodleigh. The place-name is built from Old English elements meaning “wood” plus “clearing” or “meadow,” so the sense is “wood clearing” or “wood meadow.” Some older sources connect it especially with Woodleigh in Devon, while others also note Woodley in Berkshire and similar local forms.
History
The surname appears in medieval English records as a local name and then spreads through several counties, especially in southern and western England. Nineteenth-century surname dictionaries repeatedly treat it as a place-derived surname, not an occupational one. Variant spellings and close forms such as Woodleigh reflect the same name-family across different parishes and records.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some older surname books list Woodley right alongside other “wood” surnames because it comes from a place-name rather than from the word wood alone.
From the historical record
“WOODLEIGH 1 (Eng.) Bel. to Woodleigh, or WOODLEY J Woodley ; or Dweller at the Wood-Lea [O.E. wudu + ledh (M.E. legh, ley, &c.] Woodleigh, Devon, was Wodelegh a.d. 1411-12. Wotodliffe”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Woodley
- Shailene Woodley (b. 1991)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.