From the common wood or clearing
Derived from Old English elements 'gemæne' meaning common or shared, and 'leah' meaning wood, clearing, or meadow. It originally served as a habitational surname for someone living near a communal piece of land.
Less common today
Manley isn't in the latest US Top 1000. It last peaked at #5,667 in 1992.
British insurance broker and father of poet Gerard Manley Hopkins
A deceptive Bible salesman · Good Country People by Flannery O'Connor
US births per 5-year period, 1990–present (SSA data).
