The cowley Surname
cowley Name Meaning and History
- 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.
- Irish: reduced form of Macaulay (see McCauley).
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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Cowley message board
Threads: 191 - Messages: 436
| Thread | Author | Replies |
| John Cowley |
 jadlewis
| 0 |
| Cowley from Durham, England | Darlene | 9 |
| Cowleys of Long Compton, Warwickshire | Nancy Sherman Soleimani | 1 |
| albert edward cowley, son of samuel and esther |
jocowley1
| 0 |
| Cowleys from Mere wiltshire |
Bridget Sullivan
| 0 |
| Selina COWLEY m. John BEST | Lisa Minty | 2 |
| Moses Cowley, England, late 1700s-1800s |
JonWicken
| 1 |
| Edith Cowley of PA |
addiel64
| 0 |
| The Cowley name., |
katie17161
| 0 |
| Charlotte (Lottie) Cowley, b. abt. 1846 | Marilyn Hayes | 3 |
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The cowley name in History
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