Frequency: (305)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. Irish: variant of Quealy.
2. Americanized or variant spelling of Norwegian Kvaløy, a habitational name from any of some ten farmsteads so named, from kval ‘whale’ + øy ‘island’ (Old Norse Hvaley).
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
