Henley

Boy name variations

Family name origins & meanings

• English : habitational name from any of the various places so called. Most, for example those in Oxfordshire, Suffolk, and Warwickshire, are named with Old English héan (the weak dative case of hēah ‘high’, originally used after a preposition and article) + Old English lēah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’. Others, for example one near Ludlow in Shropshire, have as their first element Old English henn ‘hen’, ‘wild bird’. Others still, for example those in Somerset and Surrey, are ambiguous between the two possibilities.
• In Ireland, Henley is used for Hennelly, and sometimes for Hanley.
• Possibly an Americanized spelling of German Henle.