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

Weakley, 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 Weakley surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Weakley in America

Weakley is the 9403rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Weakley surname appeared 3,458 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Weakley.

We can also compare 2010 data for Weakley 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 Weakley

The surname Weakley originates from England, dating back to the 13th century. It is believed to be derived from the Old English words "weoc" meaning weak or feeble, and "leah" meaning a meadow or clearing in a forest. The name likely referred to someone who lived in or near a meadow that was considered small or sparse.

Early records of the name can be found in various historical documents, including the Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire from 1273, which mentions a John de Wekelye. The Weakley surname also appears in the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire in 1327, listing a Richard de Wekelay.

During the 14th century, the name was sometimes spelled as Wekeley, Wekley, or Weakley, reflecting the variations in pronunciation and spelling common in that era. Some early bearers of the name were likely associated with places like Weakley, a small hamlet in Shropshire, or Wekeley, a now-defunct settlement in Worcestershire.

One notable individual with the Weakley surname was Sir John Weakley, a 15th-century English knight who served as a member of Parliament for Northamptonshire in 1461. Another was Thomas Weakley, a 16th-century lawyer and Member of Parliament for Ludlow in 1559.

In the 17th century, the name appears in the records of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, with the arrival of William Weakley, a settler from England who was granted land in Ipswich in 1638. John Weakley, born in 1675 in Maryland, was an early colonial American with this surname.

Other historical figures with the Weakley surname include Robert Weakley (1725-1804), a Scottish-American soldier who fought in the American Revolutionary War, and David Weakley (1766-1829), an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Tennessee.

While the Weakley surname is not as common as some others, it has a rich history spanning several centuries and can be traced back to its English origins in the medieval period.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Weakley

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

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

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

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