# Smiley (surname)

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

A Scottish surname transferred from the nickname, perhaps originally a byname for a happy, smiling person.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | nickname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 19,829 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,812 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 15,570 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.3% (19,014 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈsmaɪli/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Smellie, Smylie, Smyly, Smilie |

## Who carries it

Share of people named Smiley 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) | 62% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 31% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.4% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.9% |
| Two or more races | 2.3% |

## Where

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

## People named Smiley

- Jane Smiley, American novelist
- Michael Smiley, British actor
- Joseph W. Smiley, American actor (1870-1945)

## Similar surnames

Smalley, Smail, Smillie, Small, Samuel, Snell, Schnell, Shanley, Schimmel, Scannell, Schmoll, Shemwell.

## 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.