Explore the Family Name Exley

The meaning of Exley

1. English (Yorkshire): habitational name from Exley in Southowram (Yorkshire), from British eglēs ‘Romano-British Christian church’ (from Latin ecclesia, Greek ekklēsia ‘gathering, assembly’) + Old English lēah ‘woodland clearing’. Compare Eccles. 2. Americanized form of South German Oechsle.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Exley in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Exley saw a slight decrease in ranking from 19,263 in 2000 to 19,896 in 2010, representing a 3.29% drop. However, the actual count of people with this last name increased by 3.69%, with numbers rising from 1,302 in 2000 to 1,350 in 2010. The proportion per 100,000 also experienced a small decline of 4.17%, shifting from 0.48 in 2000 to 0.46 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#19,263	#19,896	-3.29%
Count	1,302	1,350	3.69%
Proportion per 100k	0.48	0.46	-4.17%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Exley

When examining the ethnic identity associated with the surname Exley, data from the Decennial U.S. Census reveals that the majority identify as White, although this percentage dropped slightly from 96.85% in 2000 to 94.44% in 2010. The percentages of those who identify as Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaskan Native both fell to zero in 2010 from 0.54% in 2000. Notably, there were considerable increases in the proportions identifying as Hispanic and Black - these rose by 167.21% and 168.12% respectively, pushing the percentages to 1.63% and 1.85% in 2010. Additionally, individuals identifying as being of two or more races also increased, going up by 44.16% to reach 1.11% in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.85%	94.44%	-2.49%
Black	0.69%	1.85%	168.12%
Hispanic	0.61%	1.63%	167.21%
Two or More Races	0.77%	1.11%	44.16%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.54%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.54%	0%	0%