Show ContentsLolley History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The ancient Anglo-Saxon surname Lolley came from the popular female personal name Elizabeth. The name Lolley is a metronymic surname, which is derived from the name of the mother. Occasionally, the surname is derived from residence in the settlement of Lilley in Hertfordshire or in the place called Lilly in Berkshire. In this case, the name Lolley belongs to the large category of Anglo-Saxon habitation names, which are derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads.

Early Origins of the Lolley family

The surname Lolley was first found in Worcestershire where they held a family seat from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.

Early History of the Lolley family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Lolley research. Another 138 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1296, 1553, 1560, 1578, 1580, 1602, 1606, 1618, 1652, 1680, 1681 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Lolley History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Lolley Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Lolley family name include Lillie, Lilie, Lilley, Lilly and others.

Early Notables of the Lolley family

Distinguished members of the family include Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680), born Pieter van der Faes, a Dutch painter whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court; John Lyly (Lilly or Lylie; c.1553-1606), an English writer, poet, dramatist, playwright, and politician, best known for his books "Euphues, The...
Another 56 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Lolley Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Lolley Ranking

In the United States, the name Lolley is the 17,679th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1

Ireland Migration of the Lolley family to Ireland

Some of the Lolley family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 70 words (5 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.


United States Lolley migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Lolley surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Lolley Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Thomas Lolley, aged 21, who arrived in Maryland in 1684 2

Contemporary Notables of the name Lolley (post 1700) +

  • John Larry Lolley (1945-2018), American jurist from Monroe, Louisiana; he served on the Louisiana Circuit Courts of Appeals from 2003 until his retirement in 2017
  • Phillip Lolley (b. 1954), former American college football assistant coach, current administrator at Auburn University
  • W. Ray Lolley, American Democratic Party politician, Alternate Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Alabama, 1964 3


  1. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  2. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
  3. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 19) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html


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