Explore the Family Name Fearnley

The meaning of Fearnley

1. English (Yorkshire): from any of various places called with Old English fearn ‘fern, bracken’ + lēah ‘wood, clearing’, notably the Yorkshire places Farnley near Otley, Farnley near Armley, Farnley Tyas, Fearnley in Wyke, Fernley Hill in Altofts, and perhaps also Fernilee in Derbyshire. 2. English: variant of Farley.

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

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

According to the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Fearnley has seen a slight increase in popularity in the United States over the past decade. In 2000, it was ranked as the 68,172nd most common surname, but by 2010, it had risen slightly to rank 67,519. This represents a small change of approximately 0.96%. Correspondingly, the count of people with the Fearnley surname increased by about 8.15% during the same period, growing from 270 in 2000 to 292 in 2010. Despite these changes, the proportion per 100,000 people remained stable at 0.1.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#68,172	#67,519	0.96%
Count	270	292	8.15%
Proportion per 100k	0.1	0.1	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Fearnley

The Decennial U.S. Census also provides insights into the ethnic identities associated with the Fearnley surname. In 2000, 97.04% of individuals with this surname identified as White, which decreased to 94.52% by 2010. There was no record of anyone with the Fearnley surname identifying as Hispanic, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either 2000 or 2010. However, there was a small increase in individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, rising from 0% in 2000 to 2.4% in 2010. The proportion of individuals identifying with two or more races slightly decreased from 1.85% to 1.71% over the decade.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.04%	94.52%	-2.6%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	2.4%	0%
Two or More Races	1.85%	1.71%	-7.57%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%