# Marley (surname)

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

An English habitational surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 6,220 |
| US rank (2010) | 5,591 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 49,638 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.4% (6,075 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈmɑ(ɹ)li/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Marlee, Marleigh, Marly |

## Etymology

From several different places in England, from Old English mære (“boundary”) or myrig (“pleasant”) or mearþ (“marten”) + lēah (“woodland clearing”). In the first case, equivalent to mere (“boundary”) + -ley (“lea”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Marley 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) | 87% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 6.7% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.7% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Marley in the United States.

## People named Marley

- John Marley, American actor (1907-1984)
- John Peverell Marley, American cinematographer (1899–1964)

## Similar surnames

Marlow, Morley, Murley, Merle, Marlowe, Murillo, Merrill, Morrell, Murrell, Merrell, Morel, Morrill.

## 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.