Explore the Family Name Gailey

The meaning of Gailey

1. English: habitational name from a place in Staffordshire named Gailey, from Old English gagel ‘bog-myrtle’ + lēah ‘woodland clearing’. 2. In some instances, an altered form of South German Gailer (variant of Geiler) or of Swiss German Gälli (see Gall). 3. Scottish: from Gaelic Gallaich, a collective name used for the inhabitants of Caithness, who were largely of Scandinavian origin and regarded as ‘foreign’ or ‘strangers’. This is also a collective name (in Ayrshire and adjoining counties) from gallda ‘stranger’.

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

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

The Gailey surname saw a decrease in popularity between the 2000 and 2010 Decennial U.S. Census data collections. In 2000, it was ranked 7814th most common, but by 2010 it had dropped to 8873rd — a decrease of 13.55%. The total count of individuals with this surname also fell from 3925 to 3690, a reduction of nearly 6%. This change resulted in the proportion per 100,000 people with the Gailey name falling from 1.45 to 1.25.

20002010Change
Rank#7,814#8,873-13.55%
Count3,9253,690-5.99%
Proportion per 100k1.451.25-13.79%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Gailey

Looking at the ethnicity breakdown for the Gailey surname, based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, there were some notable changes from 2000 to 2010. The percentage identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander slightly increased from 0.46% to 0.51%. The proportion of those reporting two or more races saw a significant increase, rising from 1.20% to 1.60%. The largest ethnic group, White, experienced a slight increase from 88.41% to 90.35%. Individuals identifying as Hispanic also increased, going up from 1.35% to 1.98%. However, the percentage of Black individuals decreased notably from 8.25% to 5.09%, as did the American Indian and Alaskan Native category, which rose from 0.33% to 0.46%.

20002010Change
White88.41%90.35%2.19%
Black8.25%5.09%-38.3%
Hispanic1.35%1.98%46.67%
Two or More Races1.2%1.6%33.33%
Asian/Pacific Islander0.46%0.51%10.87%
American Indian and Alaskan Native0.33%0.46%39.39%

Gailey ancestry composition

23andMe computes an ancestry breakdown for each customer. People may have ancestry from just one population or they may have ancestry from several populations. The most commonly-observed ancestry found in people with the surname Gailey is British & Irish, which comprises 57.5% of all ancestry found in people with the surname. The next two most common ancestries are French & German (20.3%) and Eastern European (6.5%). Additional ancestries include Italian, Scandinavian, Ashkenazi Jewish, Spanish & Portuguese, and Japanese.

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ANCESTRY BREAKDOWNCOMPOSITION
British & Irish57.5%
French & German20.3%
Eastern European6.5%
Other15.7%
Gailey

Possible origins of the surname Gailey

Your DNA provides clues about where your recent ancestors may have lived. Having many distant relatives in the same location suggests that you may all share common ancestry there. Locations with many distant relatives can also be places where people have migrated recently, such as large cities. If a large number of individuals who share your surname have distant relatives in a specific area, it could indicate a connection between your surname and that location, stemming from either recent ancestral ties or migration.

Based on 23andMe data, people with last name Gailey have recent ancestry locations in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Ireland.

RECENT ANCESTRY LocationPercentage
West Yorkshire, United Kingdom87.90%
Glasgow City, United Kingdom87.90%
Greater London, United Kingdom87.90%
Greater Manchester, United Kingdom87.90%
West Midlands, United Kingdom87.90%

What Gailey haplogroups can tell you

Haplogroups are genetic population groups that share a common ancestor on either your paternal or maternal line. These paternal and maternal haplogroups shed light on your genetic ancestry and help tell the story of your family.

The top paternal haplogroup of people with the surname Gailey is O-F2415, which is predominantly found among people with East Asian & Indigenous American ancestry. Haplogroup O-F2415 is descended from haplogroup O-M1359. Other common haplogroups include E-M183 and O-F2859, which are predominantly found among people with European and East Asian & Indigenous American ancestry.

The most common maternal haplogroups of people with Gailey surname are: H1, K1a, H. These most commonly trace back to individuals of European ancestry.

gaileyPaternal Haplogroup Origins O-M1359
Paternal Haplo Image

Your paternal lineage may be linked to the Cham

One of the many populations harboring members of haplogroup O1b1a1a1a1 is the Cham ethnic group, a group of people who speak Austronesian languages in Mainland Southeast Asia. Austronesian languages make up a language family that is extremely large and widespread, comprising over 350 million people on islands such as Madagascar, Easter Island, and many others. However, Austronesian languages are less common on mainland Asia, with a notable exception being the Chamic language. Research suggests that ancestors of the Cham people migrated from Southeast Asian islands to the mainland around the year 500 BCE, and that early Cham populations quickly began mixing with indigenous southern Vietnamese populations. As a result, the Chamic language now has words that were borrowed from languages spoken by indigenous Vietnamese people. It is likely that an ancestral Kinh population was one of the populations that mixed with the Cham people shortly after their migration to mainland Asia.

Your maternal lineage may be linked to Marie Antoinette

Because it is so dominant in the general European population, haplogroup H also appears quite frequently in the continent's royal houses. Marie Antoinette, an Austrian Hapsburg who married into the French royal family, inherited the haplogroup from her maternal ancestors. So did Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, whose recorded genealogy traces his female line to Bavaria. Scientists also discovered that famed 16th century astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus traced his maternal lineages to haplogroup H.

Maternal Haplo Image

What do people with the surname Gailey have in common?

Spoiler alert: it's complicated. People with the same last name are usually no more genetically similar than a randomly sampled group of people from the same population. That said, people with the same surname are more likely to have similar ancestries than randomly sampled individuals. The reason is the tendency of people with similar cultural or geographical backgrounds to preferentially mate with one another. That's why people who share a surname may be more likely to share traits and tendencies in common than people within the general population. Check out the percentages below to see the prevalences of tastes, habits, and traits of people with your surname compared with prevalences among 23andMe users.

Preferences

Gailey

Chocolate Ice Cream

Prefers chocolate flavored ice cream over other flavors.

"Gailey" Surname 44.4%

23andMe Users 41.3%

Traits

Gailey

Acrophobia

An intense fear of heights that goes beyond the concern many people feel around significant heights.

"Gailey" Surname 25.0%

23andMe Users 16.7%

Habits

Gailey

Sugary Drink

Drinks one or more sugary drinks per day.

"Gailey" Surname 34.8%

23andMe Users 21.1%

Wellness

Gailey

Migraine

A severe headache characterized by intense pain, sensitivity to light and sound, and often accompanied by nausea and vomiting.

"Gailey" Surname 21.5%

23andMe Users 16.4%

Are health conditions linked to the last name Gailey?

The short answer is that, if there is an association between surname and health, it's usually more about your ancestry than your name. Individuals with a given surname are no more genetically similar than the general population but often have similar ancestries. The populations of people associated with those shared ancestries often have sets of genetic variations, also known as alleles, in common. Some of those alleles are associated with a greater likelihood of developing certain diseases.

Disease variant frequency by ancestry

Disease allele frequencies in populations associated with the surname Gailey are shown below. Important Note: not everyone with a disease allele will develop these health condition

Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Y402H variant

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of irreversible vision loss among older adults. The disease results in damage to the central part of the retina (the macula), impairing vision needed for reading, driving, or even recognizing faces. The 23andMe Health + Ancestry DNA test includes the two most common variants associated with an increased risk of developing the condition: the Y402H variant in the CFH gene and the A69S variant in the ARMS2 gene. Learn more about Age-Related Macular Degeneration

British & Irish 62.1%

23andMe Users 57.2%