The Eley Family Name

The last name Eley is a variant form of Ely, an English family name. Read literally, Eley points to “Eel district”.

Eley and Ely

Eley adds “e” to Ely, a small change that crept in as the name was written down. Local scribes, dialects and emigration all left their mark on how the name was written. Other spellings include Ealy.

How common is Eley?

In the 2010 US Census, 4,848 Americans gave Eley as their last name (rank 6,921). That puts it among the top 10,000 US surnames.

Arms associated with the name

Looking for an Eley coat of arms? Arms were granted to families, not to surnames, and our research shows which heraldic tradition fits yours.

Want more than a summary? See the Eley family name pack.