Family name origins & meanings

• English : English habitational name from any of the minor places in Wiltshire, Warwickshire, and other counties called (The) Folly, usually from Middle English folie in the sense ‘folly’, ‘foolish enterprise’, but otherwise from Old French feuillie ‘leafy bower or shelter’, later ‘clump of trees’. In some cases, the name may be topographic.
• English : nickname for an eccentric or foolish person, from Old French folie ‘foolishness’.