indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Type Surname (from location)
Usage Scottish
Other Forms FormsPriestley, Prestley, Pressly, Pressley.
Meaning & History
From Persley, a small Scottish hamlet on the River Don, Aberdeenshire, now a suburb of the much larger city of Aberdeen, named perhaps with the Pictish word *pres-, meaning 'bushes' or 'undergrowth'.This is thought to be where American musician Elvis Presley (1935-1977) derived his surname.