# Manley (surname)

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

A habitational surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 25,136 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,413 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 12,283 people |
| Change since 2000 | -0.1% (25,159 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, from Old English mæne (“common, shared”) + lēah (“woodland”). Equivalent to mean + -ley (“lea”). * Also as an English surname, from the adjective manly (“brave, manly”). * As an Irish surname, anglicized from Ó Máinle (“descendant of Máinle”); see Malley. * Also as an Irish surname, from Ó Maonghaile (“descendant of Maonghal”), from maoin (“wealth”) + gal (“valor, fury”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Manley 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) | 79% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 15% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 2.3% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Manley in the United States, the United Kingdom and Jamaica.

## People named Manley

- Michael Manley, 4th Prime Minister of Jamaica (1924–1997)
- Dorothy Manley, British athlete (1927–2021)
- John H. Manley, American physicist, group leader during the Manhattan Project (1907–1990)
- Dexter Manley, American football player
- Michael Manley, British businessman and former CEO of FCA (born 1964)
- Emma Catherine Embury, American author, poet and botanist (1806 - 1863)

## Similar surnames

Manuel, Manalo, Manly.

## 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.