How common is the surname Dooley?

23,481 people in the United States had the surname Dooley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 13,149 Americans. It ranked 1,527th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Dooley?

Paul Dooley, American actor, writer, and comedian, followed by Taylor Dooley.

Where is the surname Dooley most common?

Wikidata records people named Dooley in the United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Is the surname Dooley getting more or less common?

More common. 22,798 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 23,481 in 2010, up 3.0%.

The surname Dooley

An Irish patronymic surname, carried by 23,481 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex D400

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Dooley is more common than 99.1% of them.

Origin

Irish origin

Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Dubhlaoich (“descendant of Dubhlaoch”), a personal name composed by the elements dubh (“black”) + laoch (“hero”).

Dooley is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 23,481 people named Dooley in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 13,149 Americans. That is up 3.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 22,798.

#1,527

rank among US surnames

23,481

people in 2010

8.0

per 100,000 Americans

+3%

change since 2000 (was #1,439)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,518	Hagen	23,616	13,074
#1,519	Phipps	23,610	13,077
#1,520	Self	23,595	13,085
#1,521	Larkin	23,578	13,095
#1,522	Poe	23,563	13,103
#1,523	Pritchard	23,549	13,111
#1,524	Masters	23,533	13,120

Who is named Dooley

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

88% of people named Dooley identified as white (not Hispanic), 7.1% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 88%
Black (not Hispanic) 7.1%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
Two or more races 1.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Dooleys

7 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Paul Dooley
American actor, writer, and comedian, born 1928
Taylor Dooley
American actress, born 1993
James Dooley
American film score composer, born 1976
Michael Joseph Dooley
20th and 21st-century Catholic Bishop of Dunedin, born 1961
Cal Dooley
American politician, born 1954
Shaun Dooley
British actor, born 1974
Hurricane Chris
American rapper from Louisiana, born 1989

Notable Dooleys come mostly from the United States (5), New Zealand (1) and the United Kingdom (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Dooley

Dooley has the Soundex code D400, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code D400.

Other Irish surnames

All 880 Irish surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Dooley come from?: Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Dubhlaoich (“descendant of Dubhlaoch”), a personal name composed by the elements dubh (“black”) + laoch (“hero”).
How common is the surname Dooley?: 23,481 people in the United States had the surname Dooley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 13,149 Americans. It ranked 1,527th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Dooley?: In the 2010 Census, 88% of people named Dooley identified as white (not Hispanic), and 7.1% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Dooley?: Paul Dooley, American actor, writer, and comedian, followed by Taylor Dooley.
Where is the surname Dooley most common?: Wikidata records people named Dooley in the United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
What type of surname is Dooley?: Dooley is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Dooley getting more or less common?: More common. 22,798 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 23,481 in 2010, up 3.0%.