Cawley is a
surname in the
English language. There are several different origins of the surname. In some cases the surnames are derived from any of numerous place names in
England. In other cases the surnames are derived from any of several
Gaelic language surnames.
Etymology
In some cases the surname is a variant of the surname Cowley,[1] and is thus derived from any of a number of different place names in England. Such places are located in
Buckinghamshire,
Devon,
Oxfordshire,
Staffordshire,
Derbyshire,
Lancashire,
Gloucestershire, and
Middlesex. These place names have numerous different
etymologies.[2] For example, one place name is derived from the
Old English elements cu and leah, meaning "cow" and "woodland clearing"; another two are from the Old English col, meaning "coal" (in reference to
charcoal); other places may be in part derived from the Old English
personal namesCufa and Cofa.[3]
In other cases, the surnames are derived from the Scottish Gaelic MacAmhlaidh, or the Irish Mac Amhlaoibh.[5] These surnames translate into English as "son of Amhladh" or "son of Amhlaidh"; and "son of Amhlaoibh". The Gaelic surnames originated as a
patronyms, however they are no longer used to refer to the actual names of the bearers' fathers. The names Amhladh, Amhlaidh, and Amhlaoibh are Gaelic derivatives of the
Old Norse personal names Áleifr and Óláfr.[4][5][7]
^Mac Amhalghadha, Mac Amhalghaidh, Library Ireland (www.libraryireland.com), retrieved 19 December 2010, which is a transcription of: Woulfe, Patrick (1923), Irish Names and Surnames.
^Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A Dictionary of First Names, Oxford Paperback Reference (2nd ed.),
Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 341, 393, 399,
ISBN978-0-19-861060-1.
This page lists people with the
surnameCawley. If an
internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that
link by adding the person's
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