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Type Surname (from location)
Usage English

Meaning & History

Habitational name, either a variant of Madeley (a name common to several places, including one in Shropshire and two in Staffordshire), named in Old English as ‘Mada’s clearing’, from an unattested byname, Mada (probably a derivative of mad ‘foolish’) + leah ‘woodland clearing’; or from Medley on the Thames in Oxfordshire, named in Old English with middel ‘middle’ + eg ‘island’. Also the nickname for an aggressive person, from Middle English, Old French medlee ‘combat’, ‘conflict’ (Late Latin misculata).
Added 6/6/2016 by LMS
Edited 6/17/2016 by LMS