Cowley (surname)

Last updated

Cowley
GenderUnisex
Language(s) English
Origin
Language(s)1. English
2. Irish
3. Manx

Cowley is a surname in the English language.

Etymology

The surname Cowley has numerous origins. In some cases it originated as a habitational name, derived from any of the several places in England named Cowley. One such place, in Gloucestershire, is derived from two Old English elements: the first, cu, meaning "cow"; the second element, leah, meaning "woodland clearing". Two other places are located in Derbyshire which are derived from the Old English col, meaning "coal" (in reference to charcoal). Another place is located near London, which can has two possible derivations: the first is from the Old English cofa, meaning "shelter" or "bay"; the second possibility is that this place name is derived from the Old English personal name Cofa. Other places are located in Buckinghamshire, Devon, Oxfordshire, and Staffordshire: these place names are thought to be derived from elements meaning "the wood or clearing of Cufa", although they may also contain topographical elements as well. In some cases the surname Cowley is derived from the Irish-language surname Mac Amhlaoibh , meaning "son of Amhlaoibh ". [1] The surname Cowley can also be of Manx language origin, where it has the same meaning as that of Irish, and has a variant, Kewley.

Contents

Families

The surname has been borne by a noted Irish family, who were one of the so-called 'Ten Tribes of Kilkenny'. The ten families bore the surnames Archdekin , Archer , Cowley, Knaresborough, Langton , Lawless , Ley , Ragget, Rothe, and Shee . Of the ten, only the Shees were considered to be of Irish ancestry; the nine others, including the Cowleys, were of English origin. [2]

People with the surname

Fictional

Related Research Articles

Neil is a masculine name of Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion". As a surname, Neil is traced back to Niall of the Nine Hostages who was an Irish king and eponymous ancestor of the Uí Néill and MacNeil kindred. Most authorities cite the meaning of Neil in the context of a surname as meaning "champion".

Trevor is a common given name or surname of Welsh origin. It is an habitational name, deriving from the Welsh tre(f), meaning "homestead", or "settlement" and fawr, meaning "large, big". The Cornish language equivalent is Trevorrow and is most associated with Ludgvan.

Cotter is a surname that originates in England and Ireland. It can also be an Anglicization, chiefly in North America, of a similar-sounding German surname.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cox (surname)</span> Surname list

The surname Cox is of English or Welsh origin, and may have originated independently in several places in Great Britain, with the variations arriving at a standard spelling only later. There are also two native Scottish & Irish surnames which were anglicised into Cox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darren</span> Name list

Darren is a masculine given name of uncertain etymological origins. Some theories state that it originated from an Anglicisation of the Irish first name Darragh or Dáire, meaning "oak tree". According to other sources, it is thought to come from the Gaelic surname meaning "great", but is also linked to a Welsh mountain named Moel Darren. It is also believed to be a variant of Darrell, which originated from the French surname D'Airelle, meaning "of Airelle". The common spelling of Darren is found in the Welsh language, meaning "edge": Black Darren and Red Darren are found on the eastern side of the Hatterrall Ridge, west of Long Town. In New Zealand, the Darran Mountains are in the south of the country.

Read is a surname of English origins.

MacDonnell, Macdonnell, or McDonnell is a surname of Scottish and Irish origin. It is an anglicized form of the Gaelic patronymic Mac Dhòmhnaill, meaning "son of Dòmhnall". The Gaelic personal name Dòmhnall is a Gaelicised form of the name Donald, which is composed of the elements domno, meaning "world", and val, meaning "might" or "rule". The name is considered a variation of MacDonald.

Richards is a Celtic Welsh, or Cornish surname based on the English version of the parent's name ending in -S. In 1881 people with this surname were mainly located in Wales, Cornwall and adjacent South-West counties of England. By 1998 many Welsh and Cornish people had migrated to cities in England particularly those adjacent to these areas. The name is derived from the Germanic ric ("power") and hard ("brave"/"hardy").

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howell (name)</span> Surname and given name of Welsh origin

Howell is a surname and given name originating from Wales. As a surname, it is not particularly common among those of Welsh ancestry, as it is an anglicized form of the Welsh name Hywel. It originates in a dynasty of kings in Wales and Brittany in the 9th and 10th centuries, most notably king Hywel Dda and three Welsh royal houses of that time onwards. The royal House of Tudor was also descended from them. Today, nearly 200,000 people bear this surname.

Garrett is a surname and given name of Germanic and of Old French origins. It is one of the many baptismal surnames to have been derived from the popular given names of Gerardus, Gerard and Gerald in 12th-century England. Both of these names were taken to Britain by the invading Normans and are the Old French versions of ancient Germanic personal names. The name Gerard is composed of the Germanic elements gēr or gār and hard, while Gerald is composed of again gēr or gār ('spear') and wald. Although Garrett remains predominantly only a last name in the UK and Ireland, elsewhere in the English-speaking world it is also a common first name.

Sweeney is a surname that is of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic Mac Suibhne meaning "son of Suibhne". The Gaelic personal name Suibhne was originally a byname meaning "pleasant" or "well-disposed" and is associated with Clan Sweeney.

McAuliffe or MacAuliffe is a surname of Norse Irish origin. The name is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic Mac Amhlaoibh, meaning "son of Amhlaoibh". The Gaelic name, Amhlaoibh, was derived from the Old Norse personal name Olaf. The surname occurs frequently in Munster, especially northern County Cork, western County Limerick, and eastern County Kerry. The McAuliffes were a sept, related to the McCarthys.

Shane is mainly a masculine given name. It is an anglicized version of the Irish name Séaghan/Séan, which itself is cognate to the name John. Shane comes from the way the name Seán is pronounced in the Ulster dialect of the Irish language, as opposed to Shaun or Shawn.

The surname Finn has several origins. In some cases it is derived from the Irish Ó Finn, meaning "descendant of Fionn"; the byname means "white" or "fair-haired". In other cases it is derived from the Old Norse Finnr, a personal name sometimes derived from a byname, or else from compound names beginning with this word element. In other cases Finn is a German surname derived from an ethnic name referring to people from Finland. Notable people sharing the surname are listed below.

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.

Reardon is a surname of Irish Gaelic origin. It is an anglisation of the modern Irish Gaelic Ó Ríordáin, which itself in turn derived from the original 'Ó Ríoghbhardáin', meaning royal bard. Notable people with the surname include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon (given name)</span> Name list

Gordon is a masculine given name in the English language. The name is derived from the Scottish surname Gordon. It is uncertain if this surname originated from a place name in Scotland or in France. The Gordon in Berwickshire, where the family who bore the surname held lands in the 12th century, is of uncertain etymology. It is also possible that this place name was named after settlers from France, who were named after a like-named place in Normandy. The surname is thought to have been taken up as a given name in honour of the Major-General Charles George Gordon, a British army officer who was killed in 1885, in Khartoum.

Cowan is a surname of both Scottish-Irish and English origins.

Clarke is a surname which means "clerk". The surname is of English and Irish origin and comes from the Latin clericus. Variants include Clerk and Clark. Clarke is also uncommonly chosen as a given name.

Moyle is a Celtic surname that derives from maol meaning bald. It has been suggested that the surname arises in at least two ways: first, meaning "shaven one" or "tonsured", as in a religious person or a locality near a religious site; and second, a dweller on or near a bald hill.

References

  1. Learn about the family history of your surname, Ancestry.com , retrieved 17 December 2010 which cited: Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN   0-19-508137-4 for the surname "Cowley".
  2. MacLysaght, Edward (1972), Irish Families: Their Names, Arms and Origins, New York: Crown Publishers, p. 266