It may well be that
Cherokee people like the name Onalee, and it may be that there are on average many more women of
Cherokee descent with this name than "normal" US women, but that does not yet tell us something about the origin and hence the meaning of the name.
When I look at names with a
Cherokee origin, e.g. here:
http://www.users.mis.net/~chesnut/pages/cherokee.htmand I see names like Gatun’wal’li or Cuhtahlatah, it does not seem very probable to me that Onalee is of
Cherokee origin, with a meaning that becomes clear with knowledge of the present or past language of this Indian nation.
I would rather support what another poster said on this board when the name Onalee already came up once last February:
http://www.behindthename.com/bb/arcview.php?id=138782&board=genwith Onalee as a "creative" spelling of Annalee, where one has to look at the two names
Anna and
Lee to finally get at meanings.
Rene www.AboutNames.ch