''Cawley'' is a

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

in the

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

. There are several different origins of the surname. In some cases the surnames are derived from any of numerous place names in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. In other cases the surnames are derived from any of several

Gaelic language The Goidelic ( ) or Gaelic languages (; ; ) form one of the two groups of Insular Celtic languages, the other being the Brittonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from Ireland through the Isle o ...

surnames.

Etymology

In some cases the surname is a variant of the surname '' Cowley'',. and is thus derived from any of a number of different place names in England. Such places are located in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, and

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. These place names have numerous different

etymologies Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

.. For example, one place name is derived from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

elements ''cu'' and ''leah'', meaning "cow" and "woodland clearing"; another two are from the Old English ''col'', meaning "coal" (in reference to

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

); other places may be in part derived from the Old English

personal names A personal name, full name or prosoponym (from Ancient Greek ''prósōpon'' – person, and ''onoma'' –name) is the set of names by which an individual person or animal is known. When taken together as a word-group, they all relate to that on ...

''Cufa'' and ''Cofa''. which cited: for the surname "Cowley". In some cases, the surnames are derived from the

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

'' MacAmhalghaidh'', and Irish '' Mac Amhalghaidh''. These Gaelic surnames translates into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

as "son of '' Amhalghaidh''", which is a transcription of: . or "son of '' Amhalghadh''". The Gaelic surnames originated as a

patronym A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, ...

s, however they are no longer used to refer to the actual names of the bearers' fathers. The

personal name A personal name, full name or prosoponym (from Ancient Greek ''prósōpon'' – person, and ''onoma'' –name) is the set of names by which an individual person or animal is known. When taken together as a word-group, they all relate to that on ...

''Amhalghaidh'' (also spelt ''Amhalghadh'') is an old Gaelic name, and its

etymological Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

origin and meaning are uncertain. In other cases, the surnames are derived from the Scottish Gaelic '' MacAmhlaidh'', or the Irish '' Mac Amhlaoibh''., which cited: , for the surnames "Cawley" and "McCauley". These surnames translate into English as "son of ''

Amhladh Aulay is a Scottish masculine given name. It is an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic , , , and . The standard Irish Gaelic form of these names is ''Amhlaoibh'' (, ); which can be Anglicised as ''Auliffe'' and ''Humphrey''. The Old Irish persona ...

''" or "son of ''

Amhlaidh Aulay is a Scottish masculine given name. It is an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic , , , and . The standard Irish Gaelic form of these names is ''Amhlaoibh'' (, ); which can be Anglicised as ''Auliffe'' and ''Humphrey''. The Old Irish persona ...

''"; and "son of ''

Amhlaoibh Aulay is a Scottish masculine given name. It is an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic , , , and . The standard Irish Gaelic form of these names is ''Amhlaoibh'' (, ); which can be Anglicised as ''Auliffe'' and ''Humphrey''. The Old Irish persona ...

''". The Gaelic surnames originated as a

s, however they are no longer used to refer to the actual names of the bearers' fathers. The names ''Amhladh'', ''Amhlaidh'', and ''Amhlaoibh'' are Gaelic derivatives of the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

personal names ''Áleifr'' and ''

Óláfr Olaf or Olav (, , or British ; ) is a Dutch, Polish, Scandinavian and German given name. It is presumably of Proto-Norse origin, reconstructed as ''*Anu-laibaz'', from ''anu'' "ancestor, grand-father" and ''laibaz'' "heirloom, descendant". Old Eng ...

''...

Distribution

United States

In 1990, the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

undertook a study of the

1990 United States census The 1990 United States census, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 248,709,873, an increase of 9.8 percent over the 226,545,805 persons enumerated during the 1980 census. Approximatel ...

, and released a sample of data concerning the most common names. According to this sample of 6.3 million people (who had 88,799 unique

last name In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

s), ''Cawley'' ranked 7,289th most common last name, and was borne by 0.002 percent of the population sample. Within the 2000 United States census, ''Cawley'' was the 5,900th most common last name, with 5,370 occurrences.. The table below shows data concerning racial-ethnic aspects of the surname in the 2000 United States census..

List of persons with the surname

Ainan Celeste Cawley Ainan Celeste Cawley (born 23 November 1999) is a Singaporean prodigy. He was born to an Irish father and Singaporean mother. Cawley gave his first public lecture at the age of six, and at seven years and one month of age, he had passed the GCSE ...

(born 1999), Malaysian prodigy *

Alan Cawley Alan Cawley (born 3 January 1982 in Sligo) is a retired Irish footballer. Career Before signing for Leeds United Cawley attended Summerhill College in Sligo. He began his career at Leeds United and had a spell at Sheffield Wednesday before ret ...

(born 1982), Irish professional football player *

Charles Cawley Charles Michael Cawley (August 15, 1940 – November 18, 2015) was a businessman and founding member of the bank MBNA. Born in Massachusetts, he was raised in New Jersey, was educated at Saint Benedict's Preparatory School and was a graduate of ...

(contemporary), founding member of the bank MBN *

Gerry Cawley Gerry Cawley originally from St Mawgan in Cornwall is well known for being a Cornish Wrestling Champion. Gerry Cawley retired from competitive wrestling although can still be found acting as a stickler (referee) in the Cornish Wrestling ring. In ...

(contemporary), Cornish wrestling champion * Harold Thomas Cawley (1878–1915), British politician and soldier, son of 1st Baron Cawley; killed in World War I * James Cawley (born 1967), American actor *

Jim Cawley James Cawley (born June 22, 1969) is an American politician and administrator who has served as president of Rosemont College since 2022. Cawley previously served as Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2015. As of 2025, he is the mo ...

, lieutenant governor of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

*John Cawley, see

John Calley John Nicholas Calley (July 8, 1930 – September 13, 2011) was an American film studio executive and producer. He was quite influential during his years at Warner Bros., where he worked from 1968 to 1981, and "produced a film a month, on average, ...

(died 1725), British co-inventor of the Newcomen steam engine. *

Katie Schumacher-Cawley Katie Anne Schumacher-Cawley (born March 10, 1980) is an American former volleyball and basketball player who is the head coach of the Penn State women's volleyball team. After serving as the associate head coach since 2018, she was named head ...

(born 1980), American volleyball/basketball player and coach *

Oswald Cawley Oswald Cawley (7 October 1882 – 22 August 1918), styled The Honourable from January 1918, was a British soldier and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician. He was the fourth and youngest son of Frederick Cawley, 1st Baron Cawley and ...

(1882–1918), British politician and soldier, son of 1st Baron Cawley; killed in World War I * Peter Cawley (born 1965), English professional football player *

Rex Cawley Warren Jay Cawley (July 6, 1940 – January 21, 2022) was an American athlete, winner of 400 m hurdles at the 1964 Summer Olympics. Cawley was born in Highland Park, Michigan. He attended Farmington High School. Cawley still holds the record t ...

(1940–2022), American Olympic hurdler * Richard Cawley (contemporary), English couturier *

Samuel Arthur Cawley Samuel Arthur Cawley (November 29, 1858 – January 5, 1947) was a farmer, merchant, miner, real estate and insurance agent and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Chilliwhack from 1909 until his retirement at the 1916 pro ...

(1858-1947_. Canadian politician *

Shirley Cawley Shirley Cawley (born 26 April 1932) is a British former athlete who won the bronze medal in the long jump at the 1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland. Biography Cawley was born in Croydon and ran for the Croydon Harriers. Cawley ...

(born 1932), British Olympic long jumper *

Tucker Cawley Tucker Cawley is an American television comedy writer and producer, best known for writing episodes for ''Everybody Loves Raymond''. He has also written for ''Men of a Certain Age'', '' Parks and Recreation'', '' Up All Night'', and the short-live ...

(contemporary), American television comedy writer and producer *

William Cawley William Cawley (1602 – January 1667) was a regicide and seventeenth century English politician. He was born in Chichester in 1602, the son of John Cawley, a wealthy brewer, and was educated at The Prebendal School, Oxford University and G ...

(1602–1667), British politician; MP for Midhurst 1640 * Will Cawley, an English boxer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cawley English-language surnames Patronymic surnames English toponymic surnames