Barley

• The village in Hertfordshire is from "Beora's ley," from Beora +‎ -ley (“clearing, lea”). The former is a personal name from Old English bera (“bear”).
• The village in Lancashire is from Old English bar (“boar”) or bere (“barley”) + leah (“clearing”).
• As an English surname, from the noun barley. As a south German surname, spelling variant of Behrle, Beerli, themselves related to the noun bear.

Barley (countable and uncountable, plural Barleys)

1. A village in Hertfordshire, England.
2. A village in Lancashire, England.
3. A surname.

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Barley is the 7054^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 4744 individuals. Barley is most common among White (74.49%) and Black/African American (18.93%) individuals.

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Barley”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 1, New York City: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 102.

• Braley, barely, bearly, bleary