Paley

1. English (Yorkshire): possibly a nickname for someone with pale or lustreless eyes, from Middle English pale ‘pale’ + eye ‘eye’.

2. English: from an Old Scandinavian personal name, Old Danish Palli or Old Swedish Palle, probably originally an ethnic name meaning ‘Pole’.

3. French: habitational name from a place in Seine-et-Marne, probably originally derived from Latin palus ‘post’, ‘stake’ + suffix -etum.

4. Jewish (from Belarus), Belorussian, and Ukrainian: occupational name for a distiller, from an eastern Slavic word meaning ‘to burn’ (Russian palit, Ukrainian palyty) + the Slavic noun suffix -ej.

GIVEN NAMES: Jewish 4%. Dror (2), Semen (2), Yakov (2), Hyman, Miriam, Yitzchok, Zalmon.

See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.