How common is the surname Wheatley?

12,520 people in the United States had the surname Wheatley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 24,660 Americans. It ranked 2,875th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Wheatley?

Bill Wheatley, basketball player (1909–1992), followed by Jonathan Wheatley.

Where is the surname Wheatley most common?

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

Is the surname Wheatley getting more or less common?

More common. 12,097 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 12,520 in 2010, up 3.5%.

The surname Wheatley

An English place surname, carried by 12,520 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex W340

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Wheatley is more common than 98.2% of them.

Origin

English origin

From Old English hwǣte (“wheat”) + lēah (“clearing”). Equivalent to wheat + -ley (“lea”). Identical to Whatley.

Wheatley 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 12,520 people named Wheatley in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 24,660 Americans. That is up 3.5% since 2000, when the Census counted 12,097.

#2,875

rank among US surnames

12,520

people in 2010

4.2

per 100,000 Americans

+3.5%

change since 2000 (was #2,740)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#2,867	Trammell	12,582	24,539
#2,868	Guinn	12,577	24,548
#2,869	Will	12,575	24,552
#2,870	Muse	12,571	24,560
#2,871	Clancy	12,556	24,589
#2,872	Caraballo	12,546	24,609
#2,873	Baugh	12,543	24,615

Who is named Wheatley

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

85% of people named Wheatley identified as white (not Hispanic), 11% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 85%
Black (not Hispanic) 11%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.0%
Two or more races 1.6%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Wheatleys

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Bill Wheatley
Basketball player (1909–1992)
Jonathan Wheatley
British engineer, born 1967
Francis Wheatley
(1747 - 1801) English painter (1747–1801)

Notable Wheatleys 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 Wheatley

Wheatley has the Soundex code W340, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W340.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Wheatley come from?: From Old English hwǣte (“wheat”) + lēah (“clearing”). Equivalent to wheat + -ley (“lea”). Identical to Whatley.
How common is the surname Wheatley?: 12,520 people in the United States had the surname Wheatley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 24,660 Americans. It ranked 2,875th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Wheatley?: In the 2010 Census, 85% of people named Wheatley identified as white (not Hispanic), and 11% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Wheatley?: Bill Wheatley, basketball player (1909–1992), followed by Jonathan Wheatley.
Where is the surname Wheatley most common?: Wikidata records people named Wheatley in the United Kingdom and the United States.
What type of surname is Wheatley?: Wheatley is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Wheatley getting more or less common?: More common. 12,097 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 12,520 in 2010, up 3.5%.