Astley

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A English family name of Anglo-Saxon origin, borne by various people including the pop singer Rick Astley
2. A surname of English origin, carried by many individuals, most famously the 1980s pop singer Rick Astley
3. An English family name that belongs to a number of people, notably the British singer known for the hit Never Gonna Give You Up

Etymology: Astley is an English surname and place name, and its roots are plainly topographical. It comes from Old English "ēast", meaning east, combined with "lēah", meaning a meadow or clearing, so the name describes a place lying east of something, probably a settlement or a larger open area. Place names of this kind were among the earliest surnames: people who lived by a particular farm, wood or clearing were often called after it, so the name passed down from a locality to the families who came from there. The second element, "lēah", is the same one that survives as "lea" in modern English, a poetic word for open grassland, and as the ending "-ley" found in countless English place names such as Chorley or Bromley. Astley therefore follows the common pattern of combining a compass direction with a landscape term.