Boy name origins & meanings
- Old Norse : From the church
Family name origins & meanings
- English : habitational name from Kirkley in Northumberland, found in early records as Crekellawe. The element Crekel is from Celtic crūg ‘hill’ + Old English hyll ‘hill’, to which the tautologous addition (Old English hlā ‘hill’, ‘mound’) was later made. There is also a Kirkley in Suffolk, named from Old Norse kirkja ‘church’ + Old English lēah ‘woodland clearing’, which may also have contributed to the surname.