The Ackley surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 7,102 people carried this name — #4,952 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 41,500 people counted. That is up 3% from 6,895 in 2000.

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What the name means

The meaning of the Ackley surname

English habitational surname, from Old English āc (“oak”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”), equivalent to oak + -ley (“lea”).

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Ackley» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.

As an English and Welsh surname

Bardsley explains it as ‘at the Ackley’.

An early record he cites: Ralph de Ackle, Oxfordshire, 1273 — Hundred Rolls.

From Charles W. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with Special American Instances (London: Henry Frowde, 1901), p. 39 · public domain.

In the first U.S. census, 1790

87 families named Ackley, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 513 people lived in those households, 5.9 to a family on average. The table counts it together with 9 other spellings. The table lists white heads of families only, in the twelve states whose 1790 records survive; Virginia’s figures come from state lists of 1782–1785.

Families, by state

Connecticut 35
New York 33
Vermont 6
Massachusetts 5
Pennsylvania 5
Maine 1
North Carolina 1
South Carolina 1

U.S. Census Bureau, «A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900» (Washington, 1909), table 111, p. 227 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.

In print

Ackley in American newspapers,
1907–1919.

Newspaper page from The Washington Herald carrying the name Ackley
The Washington Herald 1919-11-05
Newspaper page from The Alamogordo News carrying the name Ackley
The Alamogordo News 1907-01-19
Newspaper page from The Roundup Record carrying the name Ackley
The Roundup Record 1911-06-02

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain.

In print

Ackley in Australian newspapers,
1850s–1960s.

536 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Ackley. The most, 142, date from the 1950s. Weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, it stands out most in Western Australia, at 7.1 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

Western Australia 364
Victoria 54
New South Wales 42
Queensland 38
Tasmania 18
ACT (Canberra) 10
South Australia 8
Northern Territory 1

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Ackley.

Who carried it

People named Ackley,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Gardner Ackley
    Gardner Ackley 1915–1998 · writer
  • Benjamin Ackley 1768–1855
  • J. F. Ackley 1823– · politician
  • Alma Bernice Ackley 1893– · botanist
  • Ken Ackley 1923–1999 · researcher
  • Fritz Ackley 1937–2002 · baseball player

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 7 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Ackley,
in the records of 3 countries.

Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.

United States687 records

687 records of the Ackley name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 239
  • New York State death index (outside NYC), 1957–2001 142
  • U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 141
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 130
  • Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 14
  • U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 12
  • Sacramento County historic burials 5
  • U.S. service members who died in the Korean War 2
  • Irish Famine arrivals at New York, 1846–1851 1
  • U.S. service members who died in the Vietnam War 1
  1. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Edwin F. Ackley

    Born 1932; from Chemung County, New York. U.S. Army, light weapons infantryman; declared dead 1950 in North Korea. Buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Elmira, New York.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record John H. Ackley

    Born 1914 in New York. Enlisted 1943 at New York City; driver from Queens County. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1983, buried at Calverton National Cemetery, New York.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  3. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record John Ackley

    Arrived at New York in 1882 aboard the P. Caland from Rotterdam, aged 64; engineer. From England.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)

Showing 3 of 687 records for Ackley in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).

Canada12 records

12 records of the Ackley name in Canada
  • Nova Scotia Archives name indexes 9
  • Canadian Virtual War Memorial 2
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 1
  1. A Canadian First World War grave register card for a soldier who died of wounds in 1917
    Example: Canadian war grave register, 1917
    War record George Richard Ackley

    Died in service in 1918.

    Veterans Affairs Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada.
  2. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Civil record Olliver Ackley

    Listed at Ramsheg, Cumberland, Nova Scotia in the census and tax rolls of 1785.

    Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia.
  3. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Civil record Isaac Ackley

    Listed at Cumberland, Nova Scotia in the census and tax rolls of 1791.

    Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia.

Showing 3 of 12 records for Ackley in Canada.

Counts: Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. · Veterans Affairs Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Canadian First World War circumstances-of-death register (scan by Scottgraham87 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).

Australia11 records

11 records of the Ackley name in Australia
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 8
  • Tasmanian Names Index 1
  • Victoria wills and probate, deaths to 2001 1
  • State Library of Western Australia indexes 1
  1. A petition to the probate court of St. Louis, 1848
    Example: probate petition, 1848
    Probate record James Ackley

    Laborer of Coburg, Victoria; died 1930.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)
  2. The first page of an emigration file from Gündlingen, Baden, 1883
    Example: German emigration file, 1883
    Emigration record Thomas Ackley

    Left Hobart in 1822 aboard the Clydesdale, bound for Port Jackson, as a seaman.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Jos Ackley

    Sailed from Victoria in 1854 aboard the Lady Bird I, bound for Launceston, aged 27.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 11 records for Ackley in Australia.

Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · State Library of Western Australia (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain); Emigration file, Gündlingen, 1883, Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Staatsarchiv Freiburg B 694/1 Nr. 1389 (CC BY 4.0); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Ackley.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Ackley is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

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