MARLEY

English: habitational name from any of the various places so called, for example in Devon, Kent, and West Yorkshire. According to Ekwall, the first element of these place names is respectively Old English (ge)mǣre ‘boundary’, myrig ‘pleasant’, and mearð ‘(pine) marten’. The second element in each case is Old English lēah ‘woodland clearing’. This surname was taken to Ireland by a Northumbrian family who settled there in the 17th century.