Brownley Surname Meaning & Coat of Arms

In old registers, Brownley often stands in for Brownlee. Its meaning, shared with Brownlee, is “Brown meadow”.

Heraldry and the Brownley name

Heraldry is personal: arms associated with the Brownlee surname were borne by specific families, and sharing the name does not mean sharing the blazon.

Brownley and Brownlee

Brownley writes “y” in place of the “e” found in Brownlee, a common scribal difference. Regional accents shaped spellings long before dictionaries fixed them. The same family of names includes Brownlie.

In the 2010 US Census, 432 Americans gave Brownley as their last name (rank 48,800). It sits within the 50,000 most common last names in the country. Get the complete Brownley report, with a museum-style coat of arms.