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The surname Marley

An English place surname, carried by 6,220 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈmɑ(ɹ)li/ 2 syllables Soundex M640 Also a first name

Marley: #5,591 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer Marley #5,591, 6,220 people Marley: #5,591 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Marley #5,591, 6,220 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Marley is more common than 96.6% of them.

Origin

English origin

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”).

Marley is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 6,220 people named Marley in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 49,638 Americans. That is up 2.4% since 2000, when the Census counted 6,075.

#5,591
rank among US surnames
6,220
people in 2010
2.1
per 100,000 Americans
+2.4%
change since 2000 (was #5,271)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#5,585Duhon6,22349,614
#5,588Ream6,22249,622
#5,589Bruton6,22149,630
#5,591Brake6,22049,638
#5,594Ignacio6,21949,646

Who is named Marley

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

87% of people named Marley identified as white (not Hispanic), 6.7% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.7% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

  • White (not Hispanic) 87%
  • Black (not Hispanic) 6.7%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.7%
  • Two or more races 2.1%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Marleys

2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

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

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

  • Marlee
  • Marleigh
  • Marly

Surnames that sound like Marley

Marley has the Soundex code M640, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code M640.

Other English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Marley come from?
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”).
How common is the surname Marley?
6,220 people in the United States had the surname Marley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 49,638 Americans. It ranked 5,591st of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Marley?
In the 2010 Census, 87% of people named Marley identified as white (not Hispanic), and 6.7% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Marley?
John Marley, American actor (1907-1984), followed by John Peverell Marley.
Where is the surname Marley most common?
Wikidata records people named Marley in the United States.
How do you pronounce Marley?
Marley is /ˈmɑ(ɹ)li/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Marley?
Marley is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Marley getting more or less common?
More common. 6,075 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 6,220 in 2010, up 2.4%.
What are other spellings of Marley?
Marlee, Marleigh and Marly.
Is Marley also a first name?
Yes. Marley is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.