How common is the surname Smedley?

4,371 people in the United States had the surname Smedley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 70,635 Americans. It ranked 7,605th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Smedley?

Agnes Smedley, American journalist, writer, Comintern spy (1892-1950), followed by Constance Smedley.

Where is the surname Smedley most common?

Wikidata records people named Smedley in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Is the surname Smedley getting more or less common?

More common. 4,286 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,371 in 2010, up 2.0%.

The surname Smedley

An English place surname, carried by 4,371 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex S534

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Smedley is more common than 95.3% of them.

Origin

English origin

Perhaps from Old English smēþe (“smooth”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”).

Smedley 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 4,371 people named Smedley in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 70,635 Americans. That is up 2.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 4,286.

#7,605

rank among US surnames

4,371

people in 2010

1.5

per 100,000 Americans

+2%

change since 2000 (was #7,178)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#7,599	Renshaw	4,374	70,587
#7,600	Peele	4,373	70,603
#7,601	Bachmann	4,372	70,619
#7,605	Smedley	4,371	70,635
#7,607	Go	4,370	70,651
#7,609	Minnich	4,369	70,667

Who is named Smedley

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

83% of people named Smedley identified as white (not Hispanic), 11% as Black (not Hispanic) and 3.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 83%
Black (not Hispanic) 11%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.0%
Two or more races 2.5%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.2%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Smedleys

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Agnes Smedley
American journalist, writer, Comintern spy (1892-1950)
Constance Smedley
Author and founder of the International Lyceum Clubs, 1876–1941
Nikky Smedley
British actress, born 1970

Notable Smedleys come mostly from the United Kingdom (2) and the United States (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Smedley

Smitley

Smedley has the Soundex code S534, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S534.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Smedley come from?: Perhaps from Old English smēþe (“smooth”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”).
How common is the surname Smedley?: 4,371 people in the United States had the surname Smedley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 70,635 Americans. It ranked 7,605th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Smedley?: In the 2010 Census, 83% of people named Smedley identified as white (not Hispanic), and 11% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Smedley?: Agnes Smedley, American journalist, writer, Comintern spy (1892-1950), followed by Constance Smedley.
Where is the surname Smedley most common?: Wikidata records people named Smedley in the United Kingdom and the United States.
What type of surname is Smedley?: Smedley is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Smedley getting more or less common?: More common. 4,286 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,371 in 2010, up 2.0%.