# Whatley (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/whatley/  
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) | 11,579 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,109 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 26,664 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.9% (11,039 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Old English hwǣte (“wheat”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”). Equivalent to wheat + -ley (“lea”). Identical to Wheatley.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Whatley 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) | 69% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 23% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 4.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.4% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Similar surnames

Whitley, Wheatley, Whittle, Whiteley, Wadley, Watley, Whitely, Waddell, Woodall, Whitlow, Woodley, Weddle.

## 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.