TILEY

Tiley is an English surname that can be characterised as both locational and occupational in origin. The name is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 under the form Ralph de Tilio, indicating that it was in use at least as early as the reign of William I, also known as “The Conqueror”. The early bearer appears to have been a landholder in Devonshire, suggesting that the family had already established a distinct identity by the late twelfth century.

The etymology of the surname is multi‑faceted. One possible derivation is from a Norman habitational name introduced after the Conquest of 1066. In northern France there are several settlements called Tilly, recorded in medieval documents as Tiliacum. These place names are believed to derive from the Gallo‑Roman personal name Tilius, which itself may be related to the Latin word tilia meaning lime tree, combined with the suffix -acum denoting a possession. A second place, situated in Seine‑et‑Oise, is associated with the personal name Attilius, a derivative of Attalus; this too yields the -acum formation.

A third source of the surname is more purely English. It is considered to be a habitational name from Tilley in Shropshire, a locality whose name is thought to be formed from the Old English pre‑7th century words telg(e) meaning branch or bough and leah meaning woodland or clearing. From a linguistic standpoint, the composite structure telg‑leah would have signified a clearing of a branch in woodland, a notion that evolved into the surname Tiley and subsequently Tiley/Tiley‑e. When combined with the later suffix ‑y, the place‑name was then interpreted as the acting name of the original settler of the forest.

A fourth derivation is occupational, linked to the production or sale of tiles. In Middle English, the word for tiles was tilie, a secondary derivative from the Old English tilia, which in turn comes from the verb tilian to till, cultivate. Those who produced or sold tiles was thus designated by the surname Tiley. Families who worked in an occupation of the manufacture of walls, and the name eventually became a hereditary surname for generations, featuring these individuals who had tiles as their trade required lettering and the chain was centred on ridging, bridging these righteous they for a t‑rating purpose for a mundane duty.

These four lines of etymology are further evidenced by the absence of mixed usage, such as a “mixed connection” with France or the presence of a location other than one found in England. The surname does not apply to the French version of the name Tille, the female given name Tilly, nor to the surname Tilley, which might have been in different historical context or had different derivation. The concentration in England, specifically, affirms its English linguistic heritage, as the name was used by Christian families within the region of the British Isles. In an underscore of historical usage, a later record notes the christening of Giles, son of Jacob and Grace Tiley on November 30th 1697 at St. Dunstan's Stepney, London, thereby illustrating the continued use of the name into the seventeenth century.

Typical given names associated with the Tiley surname

Male

• Andrew
• Daniel
• David
• John
• Mark
• Michael
• Nicholas
• Peter
• Richard
• Robert
• Stephen

Female

• Angela
• Carole
• Caroline
• Charlotte
• Jennifer
• Julie
• Karen
• Linda
• Margaret
• Nicola
• Rebecca
• 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 Tiley in...

Braille

⠞⠊⠇⠑⠽

Morse

-...-...-.--

Semaphore

Surname type: Location or geographical feature

Origin: English

Region of origin: British Isles

Country of origin: England

Religion of origin: Christian

Language of origin: English

Famous people named Tiley

• Steven Tiley - Golfer

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.

Your comments on the Tiley surname