BROADLEY

Broadley is a surname of English and Anglo‑Saxon origin. It is a locational name derived from the Old English words brad, meaning broad or wide, and leah, meaning wood or clearing. The name originally identified people who lived near a broad clearing or a wide expanse of land, or who displayed a broad physical appearance.

Historical records show that the toponymic element has been preserved in several places across England. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the name appears as Bradeleia at a settlement near Huddersfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and as Bradelai in Lincolnshire. Other places named Bradley, from which the surname was taken, include Broadley near Rochdale in Lancashire; Bradley in Cheshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire; and Bradley near Huddersfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

The earliest known use of the name in its modern form dates to 1170, when a Robert de Bradelai is recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire during the reign of Henry XI, the builder of churches. Subsequent medieval references include William de Bradelegh of Devonshire in 1272, Robert de Bradeleye of Cambridgeshire in 1273, and Agnes de Bradelay in the 1379 Yorkshire Poll Tax Returns. In the early modern period, Elizabeth Brodeley was christened in Halifax, Yorkshire, on 7 April 1541, and Danyell, son of William Broadley, was baptised in Bingley on 26 January 1589.

A heraldic badge associated with the Broadley family of Kirk Ella and Ferriby in Yorkshire is a gold shield featuring a chevron chequy ermine and red, surrounded by a trio of crosses pattee fitchee, with a coat of arms cresting a cross pattee fitchee within a chaplet of roses proper. The motto of that line is Honor post funera vivit, translating as Honour lives after death.

In the modern era the surname remains common throughout Great Britain and Ireland. In England it is most numerous in Lancashire, Herefordshire, Suffolk and Northamptonshire, though it can be found in Hampshire and other counties. In Scotland the name is traditionally linked to Fife, where estates are recorded in the sixteenth century, and is still borne by families in Edinburgh, Angus and Aberdeenshire. In Ireland the Broadley surname is thought to have arisen in the south, near County Cork, and has spread to Northern Ireland. Across the three countries there are over 35,000 individuals who carry the surname Broadley.

Variants of the name that appear in historical and modern records include Brodley, Brodly, Brodlye, Breadley, Bradly, Braudly, Brawdly, Brawley, Braidley, Bradely and Bradlee. These forms stem from the same Old English origin and are sometimes used interchangeably in parish registers and civic documents.

Typical given names associated with the Broadley surname

Male

• Alan
• Andrew
• David
• James
• John
• Michael
• Nigel
• Paul
• Peter
• Philip
• Richard
• Robert

Female

• Alison
• Elizabeth
• Emma
• Helen
• Jennifer
• Margaret
• Mary
• Patricia
• Sarah
• Susan

Similar and related surnames

Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.

How to communicate the surname Broadley in...

Braille

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Morse

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Semaphore

Famous people named Broadley

• Eric Broadley - Engineer (1928 to 2017)
• Alexander Meyrick Broadley - Barrister and historian (1847 to 1916)
• Pascal Broadley - Cricketer
• Donald George Broadley - Botanist, herpetologist and entomologist (1932 to 2016)

Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.

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