# Exley (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/exley/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 1,350 |
| US rank (2010) | 19,896 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 228,700 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.7% (1,302 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Axley |

## Etymology

Habitational surname from a place in West Yorkshire, from Cumbric *eglēs (“church”) (also found in Eccles) + Old English lēah (“woodland clearing”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Exley in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 94% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 1.9% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.6% |
| Two or more races | 1.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Exley in the United States.

## People named Exley

- John Exley, American rower (1867–1938)

## Similar surnames

Easley, Eckley, Ezell, Eagle, Eisele, Eckel, Ezzell, Egli, Eisel, Egle.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.