Manley

Boy name variations

Family name origins & meanings

• English : habitational name from places in Devon and Cheshire, named in Old English as ‘common wood or clearing’, from (ge)mǣne ‘common’, ‘shared’ + lēah ‘woodland clearing’. The surname is still chiefly found in the regions around these villages.
• English : nickname from Middle English mannly ‘manly’, ‘virile’, ‘brave’ (Old English mannlīc, originally ‘man-like’).
• Irish (County Cork) : Anglicized form of Ó Máinle (and often pronounced Mauly), of unexplained origin. Compare Malley.
• Irish (Connacht and Donegal) : shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Maonghaile ‘descendant of Maonghal’, a personal name derived from words meaning ‘wealth’ and ‘valor’.