Find out how popular the last name Adley is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Adley.

Adley, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Adley surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Adley in America

Adley is the 37735th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Adley surname appeared 589 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Adley.

We can also compare 2010 data for Adley to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Adley

The surname Adley is of English origin and dates back to the 13th century. It is thought to be derived from the Old English words "ād" meaning "journey" and "leah" meaning "clearing" or "meadow". This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who lived near a meadow or clearing that was frequented by travelers.

The earliest recorded mention of the name Adley can be found in the Hundred Rolls of 1273, which were administrative records of landholders in England. Specifically, the name appears as "Hugh de Addelee" in the rolls for the county of Oxfordshire. This spelling variation provides insight into how the name may have evolved over time.

In the 14th century, the Adley surname can be found in various manorial records and tax rolls, indicating that the family was well-established in certain regions of England. For instance, a Robert Adley is documented in the Subsidy Rolls for Hertfordshire in 1381.

The name Adley is also associated with several place names in England, such as Adley in Shropshire and Adlington in Cheshire. These place names likely originated from the surname, rather than the other way around, as was often the case with locational surnames.

One notable figure in history with the surname Adley was Sir Robert Adley (1597-1663), an English landowner and Member of Parliament during the reign of Charles I. He was a staunch Royalist and played a role in the English Civil War.

Another prominent individual was Sir Ralph Adley (1612-1672), a wealthy merchant and Member of Parliament for Bristol during the Interregnum and Restoration periods. He was instrumental in the establishment of the East India Company's trading operations in Bengal.

In the 19th century, John Adley (1823-1898) was a British architect who designed several notable buildings in London, including the Prudential Assurance Building and the Holborn Town Hall.

Mary Adley (1837-1914) was a renowned English folklorist and collector of traditional songs and stories from the rural areas of Shropshire and Herefordshire.

Finally, Sir Robert Adley (1935-1993) was a British Conservative politician who served as a Member of Parliament for over 20 years and held various ministerial positions in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Adley

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Adley.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Adley was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Adley has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Adley was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Adley, please contact us.

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