# Risley (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/risley/  
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) | 4,040 |
| US rank (2010) | 8,213 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 76,422 people |
| Change since 2000 | -0.2% (4,048 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Wrisley |

## Etymology

From Old English hrīs (“twig, branch; brushwood”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”); equivalent to rice + -ley (“lea”). The circus term comes from the name of Richard Risley Carlisle (1814–1874), who developed this kind of act in the United States.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Risley 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) | 93% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.5% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.6% |

## Similar surnames

Riggle, Rishel, Russell, Rockwell, Rackley, Russel, Riegel, Rochelle, Rachal, Roussel, Reichel, Rozell.

## 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.