Weakly History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

The history of the Weakly family name begins after the Norman Conquest of 1066. They lived in Hertfordshire, at the manor of Wakely.

Early Origins of the Weakly family

The surname Weakly was first found in Hertfordshire where they held a family seat from very ancient times, conjecturally the family were descended from Ralph of Wakely, a Norman noble, who held his lands from Count Allan and was thus reflected in the Domesday Book Survey of 1086 A.D.

Early History of the Weakly family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Weakly research. Another 67 words (5 lines of text) covering the year 1600 is included under the topic Early Weakly History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Weakly Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Wakley, Wakeley, Wakely, Wakelie, Wakelee, Weakley, Wakerley and many more.

Early Notables of the Weakly family

More information is included under the topic Early Weakly Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Weakly family to Ireland

Some of the Weakly family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 50 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Weakly family

Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Weakly name or one of its variants: Thomas Wakely who settled in Virginia in 1682; George Wakely arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1875; John Wakeley arrived in Philadelphia in 1872.