Look up another surname
The cowley Surname

cowley Name Meaning and History

  1. English: habitational name from any of the various places called Cowley. One in Gloucestershire is named with Old English cu ‘cow’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’; two in Derbyshire have Old English col ‘(char)coal’ as the first element; and one near London has it from Old English cofa ‘shelter’, ‘bay’ (see Cove) or the personal name Cofa. The largest group, however, with examples in Buckinghamshire, Devon, Oxfordshire, and Staffordshire, were apparently named as ‘the wood or clearing of Cufa’; however, in view of the number of places named with this element, it is possible that it conceals a topographical term as well as a personal name.
  2. Irish: reduced form of Macaulay (see McCauley).

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
Learn the meaning and history of your first name
Share this page with friends and family

14–Day Free Trial

Download the Getting Started guide
It's FREE with registration!

cowley Family Facts

Are you a Facebook user? Add cowley family facts to your Facebook profile.
Distribution of cowley Families in the US in 1920
Number of cowley families
 61-120
 21-60
 1-20
 0
Compiled by Ancestry.com from the 1920 US Federal Census records

Click on a state to view cowley census records

Year

How is this helpful?

  • You can decide where (in which states) to start searching for cowley records.
  • You can see how cowley families moved over time by selecting different Census years.

What do I do next?

The information for this map came from Ancestry.com’s US Federal Census Collection.
  • Census records can tell you little-known facts about your ancestors such as birthplace, residence and occupation.
  • Click here to search cowley census records.

Search for cowley records

Name

Birth

+/-
e.g. Chicago, Illinois, USA

Death

+/-
e.g. Chicago, Illinois, USA
Give priority to    

More resources for your cowley family history

Start your FREE family tree. Who will you discover?

A family tree is the easiest way to start discovering your family history. To begin, just enter whatever you know and we'll use that to try and find more information for you.

Begin your family tree with your name:

Learn more about family trees.

The cowley name in History

A unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the cowley family name as far back in history as possible.

Member Connections

More Tools and Resources