# Midgley (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/midgley/  
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 | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 1,393 |
| US rank (2010) | 19,398 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 221,641 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.8% (1,342 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈmɪd͡ʒli/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Old English myċġ (“midge, gnat, mosquito”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”). Equivalent to midge + -ley (“lea”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Midgley 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) | 92% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 1.9% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.5% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Midgley in the United States.

## People named Midgley

- Thomas Midgley, American chemist and engineer (1889–1944)
- Fanny Midgley, American actress (1879-1932)

## Similar surnames

Mitchell, Metcalf, Metzler, Mitchel, Metcalfe, Mutchler, Mitzel, Medcalf, Mutschler, Modzelewski.

## 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.