Riley (surname)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the surname "Riley". For the given name, see Riley (given name). For other uses, see Riley (disambiguation).

Riley is a surname of English origin, as well as an Anglicized version of an Irish surname.

The name has the meaning "rye clearing", or is from one of several placenames, including High Riley in Accrington, Lancashire, and in Devon.[1][2] In the United Kingdom Census 1881, more than a third of Rileys were in Lancashire; it was most prevalent in the east of the county and over the boundary into the Calder Valley in Yorkshire, and the name could be found in these areas from the 13th century.[3] The name is also an Anglicized version of the Irish surname O'Reilly.[1] This is derived from the first name Raghallach; the Gaelic version of the surname, Ó Raghallaigh, is Irish for 'grandson (or descendant) of Raghallach'.

Notable people with the surname[edit]

A[edit]

B[edit]

C[edit]

D[edit]

E[edit]

F[edit]

G[edit]

H[edit]

I[edit]

J[edit]

K[edit]

L[edit]

M[edit]

N[edit]

P[edit]

Q[edit]

R[edit]

S[edit]

T[edit]

V[edit]

W[edit]

Y[edit]

Fictional characters[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Bardsley, Charles Wareing (1901). A dictionary of English and Welsh surnames. Henry Frowde. p. 647. ISBN 9785871144015.
  2. ^ Seary, E.; Kirwin, William; Lynch, Sheila M. P. (1998). Kirwin, William (ed.). Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland. McGill-Queen's Press. p. 445. ISBN 9780773517820.
  3. ^ Redmonds, George; King, Turi; Hey, David (2011). Surnames, DNA, and Family History. OUP Oxford. pp. 74–75. ISBN 9780199582648.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Riley_(surname)&oldid=1209694850"