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    The surname Woolley

    An English place surname, carried by 6,749 people in the United States.

    2 syllables Soundex W400

    Woolley: #5,176 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer Woolley #5,176, 6,749 people Woolley: #5,176 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Woolley #5,176, 6,749 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Woolley is more common than 96.8% of them.

    Origin

    English origin

    Usually from Old English wulf (“wolf”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade frequented by wolves”). Equivalent to wolf + -ley (“lea”).

    Woolley 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 6,749 people named Woolley in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 45,747 Americans. That is up 2.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 6,598.

    #5,176
    rank among US surnames
    6,749
    people in 2010
    2.3
    per 100,000 Americans
    +2.3%
    change since 2000 (was #4,888)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #5,167Borrego6,77245,591
    #5,168Born6,77145,598
    #5,169Vaccaro6,76645,632
    #5,170Greenwell6,76545,639
    #5,171Sills6,76145,666
    #5,172Forney6,75545,706
    #5,173Hoag6,75245,727

    Who is named Woolley

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

    90% of people named Woolley identified as white (not Hispanic), 3.8% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 90%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 3.8%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
    • Two or more races 2.3%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Woolleys

    5 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Leonard Woolley
      British archaeologist (1880–1960)
    • Monty Woolley
      American actor (1888–1963)
    • Richard van der Riet Woolley
      British astronomer royal (1906–1986)
    • Hannah Woolley
      17th century English writer, 1622–1675
    • Patricia A. Woolley
      Australian zoologist (1932 - )

    Notable Woolleys come mostly from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1), the United States (1) and the United Kingdom (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Woolley

    Woolley has the Soundex code W400, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W400.

    Other English surnames

    All 1,446 English surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Woolley come from?
    Usually from Old English wulf (“wolf”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade frequented by wolves”). Equivalent to wolf + -ley (“lea”).
    How common is the surname Woolley?
    6,749 people in the United States had the surname Woolley in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 45,747 Americans. It ranked 5,176th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Woolley?
    In the 2010 Census, 90% of people named Woolley identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.8% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Woolley?
    Leonard Woolley, British archaeologist (1880–1960), followed by Monty Woolley.
    Where is the surname Woolley most common?
    Wikidata records people named Woolley in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the United States and the United Kingdom and 2 other countries.
    What type of surname is Woolley?
    Woolley is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
    Is the surname Woolley getting more or less common?
    More common. 6,598 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 6,749 in 2010, up 2.3%.