How common is the surname Whitley?

26,732 people in the United States had the surname Whitley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 11,550 Americans. It ranked 1,313th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Whitley?

Kym Whitley, American actress and comedian, followed by Keith Whitley.

Where is the surname Whitley most common?

Wikidata records people named Whitley in the United States, Belgium and the United Kingdom and 1 other country.

Is the surname Whitley getting more or less common?

More common. 26,078 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 26,732 in 2010, up 2.5%.

The surname Whitley

An English place surname, carried by 26,732 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). Whitley is more common than 99.2% of them.

Origin

English origin

From Old English hwīt (“white”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”). Equivalent to white + -ley (“lea”).

Whitley 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 26,732 people named Whitley in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 11,550 Americans. That is up 2.5% since 2000, when the Census counted 26,078.

#1,313

rank among US surnames

26,732

people in 2010

9.1

per 100,000 Americans

+2.5%

change since 2000 (was #1,236)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,304	Hatch	26,903	11,476
#1,305	Sheehan	26,902	11,477
#1,306	Rutledge	26,887	11,483
#1,307	Corbin	26,876	11,488
#1,308	Dempsey	26,863	11,493
#1,309	Garland	26,779	11,529
#1,310	Carmona	26,774	11,532

Who is named Whitley

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

72% of people named Whitley identified as white (not Hispanic), 23% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 72%
Black (not Hispanic) 23%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
Two or more races 1.9%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Whitleys

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Kym Whitley
American actress and comedian, born 1961
Keith Whitley
American country singer (1954–1989)
Chris Whitley
American blues/rock singer-songwriter and guitarist, 1960–2005
Trixie Whitley
Belgian musician, born 1987
Norman Whitley
British army officer and lacrosse player (1883-1957)
Gilbert Percy Whitley
Australian ichthyologist and entomologist (1903-1975)

Notable Whitleys come mostly from the United States (3), Belgium (1) and the United Kingdom (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Whitley

Whitley 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 Whitley come from?: From Old English hwīt (“white”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”). Equivalent to white + -ley (“lea”).
How common is the surname Whitley?: 26,732 people in the United States had the surname Whitley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 11,550 Americans. It ranked 1,313th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Whitley?: In the 2010 Census, 72% of people named Whitley identified as white (not Hispanic), and 23% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Whitley?: Kym Whitley, American actress and comedian, followed by Keith Whitley.
Where is the surname Whitley most common?: Wikidata records people named Whitley in the United States, Belgium and the United Kingdom and 1 other country.
What type of surname is Whitley?: Whitley is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Whitley getting more or less common?: More common. 26,078 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 26,732 in 2010, up 2.5%.