Where Does the Hanly Surname Come From?

Hanly and Hanley are two spellings with one history. At root, the name means “Descendant of Áinle”.

Family crest and blazon

Arms linked to Hanley and its spellings were granted to individual families; our heraldry team traces which line they belonged to.

A variant of Hanley

Hanly drops the “e” of Hanley, a shortening that clerks often made. Local scribes, dialects and emigration all left their mark on how the name was written. The same family of names includes O'Hanley and Henly.

According to the 2010 US Census, the Hanly surname had 710 bearers. It sits within the 50,000 most common last names in the country. For the full story, order the Hanly surname pack.