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WINDLEY Family History

Recorded as Windley, Wendley, Winley, Wenley, Wenly, and others, this is an English locational surname. It originates from a place called Windley, a village near Belper in Derbyshire. This place is first recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 as Winleg, which translates not as a windy place, although that would be quite logical for Derbyshire, but a meadow (winn) in a forest glade (leah). The precise meaning is probably fenced grazing land in the forest. This village was later in the year 1297 recorded as 'Wynleye' not adopting the modern form until the 16th century.