How common is the surname Thornley?

1,725 people in the United States had the surname Thornley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 178,983 Americans. It ranked 16,624th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Thornley?

Callum Thornley, British cyclist.

Where is the surname Thornley most common?

Wikidata records people named Thornley in the United Kingdom.

Is the surname Thornley getting more or less common?

More common. 1,604 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 1,725 in 2010, up 7.5%.

The surname Thornley

An English place surname, carried by 1,725 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex T654

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Thornley is more common than 89.8% of them.

Origin

English origin

From Old English þorn (“thorn, thorny bush”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”). Equivalent to thorn + -ley (“lea”).

Thornley 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 1,725 people named Thornley in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 178,983 Americans. That is up 7.5% since 2000, when the Census counted 1,604.

#16,624

rank among US surnames

1,725

people in 2010

0.6

per 100,000 Americans

+7.5%

change since 2000 (was #16,494)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#16,616	Hoxie	1,726	178,879
#16,624	Nie	1,725	178,983
#16,630	Vanriper	1,724	179,087

Who is named Thornley

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

94% of people named Thornley identified as white (not Hispanic), 1.9% as two or more races and 1.7% as Black (not Hispanic).

White (not Hispanic) 94%
Two or more races 1.9%
Black (not Hispanic) 1.7%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.5%

The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Asian & Pacific Islander, Native American are not shown.

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Thornleys

1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

Callum Thornley
British cyclist, born 2003

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Thorneloe

Surnames that sound like Thornley

Thornley has the Soundex code T654, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code T654.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Thornley come from?: From Old English þorn (“thorn, thorny bush”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”). Equivalent to thorn + -ley (“lea”).
How common is the surname Thornley?: 1,725 people in the United States had the surname Thornley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 178,983 Americans. It ranked 16,624th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Thornley?: In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Thornley identified as white (not Hispanic), and 1.9% as two or more races.
Who is the most famous person named Thornley?: Callum Thornley, British cyclist.
Where is the surname Thornley most common?: Wikidata records people named Thornley in the United Kingdom.
What type of surname is Thornley?: Thornley is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Thornley getting more or less common?: More common. 1,604 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 1,725 in 2010, up 7.5%.
What are other spellings of Thornley?: Thorneloe.