# Shanley (surname)

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

A surname from Irish.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Irish |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 4,511 |
| US rank (2010) | 7,384 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 68,443 people |
| Change since 2000 | +8.4% (4,162 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Mac Seanlaoich (“son of Seanlaoch”), a personal name composed of the elements sean (“old”) + laoch (“hero, champion”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Shanley 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) | 95% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.6% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.1% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 1.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Shanley in the United States.

## People named Shanley

- John Patrick Shanley, American writer

## Similar surnames

Smalley, Small, Samuel, Snell, Smiley, Smail, Schnell, Schimmel, Scannell, Schmoll, Shemwell, Smeal.

## 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.