Howley: Last Name Origin and Family Crest

A coat of arms belongs to a particular family line rather than to everyone named Howley, so the heraldry linked to Hawley is a starting point, not an automatic right.

Family name meaning

Howley is best understood alongside Hawley: both are English spellings of one family name. Name scholars give the meaning as “clearing in a nook”.

Only a small detail separates the spellings: Howley has “o” where Hawley has “a”. Regional accents shaped spellings long before dictionaries fixed them. Other spellings include Hawly and Hawleigh. The Census Bureau's 2010 surname file lists Howley with 2,688 bearers, at rank 11,663. Howley sounds close to Holley, so it can help to search both.

Research your Howley family history with a full surname report and painted coat of arms.