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

Foley, 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 Foley surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Foley in America

Foley is the 661st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Foley surname appeared 51,865 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 18 people would have the surname Foley.

We can also compare 2010 data for Foley 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 Foley

The surname Foley is of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic words "faille" or "failghea", meaning a leader or ruler. It is believed to have originated in County Kerry, Ireland, in the Middle Ages.

The name Foley was first recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history, in the 13th century. The earliest known bearer of the name was Dermot O'Foley, a chieftain of the O'Foley clan in County Kerry, who lived around 1200 AD.

In the 16th century, the Foley family was prominent in the area around Dingle, County Kerry, and they held significant land and influence in the region. The name is also associated with the town of Callan, County Kilkenny, where the Foleys were a prominent family in the 17th century.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Foley appears in the Fiants of the Tudor Sovereigns, a collection of medieval records from the 16th century, where a Thomas Foley is mentioned in 1564.

A famous bearer of the name was Sir Thomas Foley (1617-1677), an English businessman and politician who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1648-1649. He was a prominent figure in the English Civil War and supported the Parliamentarian cause.

Another notable Foley was John Henry Foley (1818-1874), an Irish sculptor known for his works in Dublin, including the O'Connell Monument and the sculptures on the Customs House façade.

In the United States, one of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was John Foley (1735-1817), an Irish immigrant who served as a captain in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

Paul Foley (1644-1699) was an English lawyer and politician who served as the Speaker of the House of Commons from 1695 to 1698, during the reign of King William III.

The name Foley has also been associated with various place names, such as Foley Street in Dublin, Ireland, and Foley, Alabama, in the United States, which was named after a prominent local family.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Foley

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

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 Foley 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 Foley 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 Foley was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!