Recorded in a number of forms including Spandley, Spendley, Spenley, Spinley, Spondley and possibly others, this is an English locational surname. Fairly well recorded since Elizabethan times in all its various spellings in the registers of the city of London and the county of Middlesex, it would seem to originate from either a 'lost' medieval village, or from some existing place of which the existing surnames are variant spellings. There are very few surviving place names which appear as likely candidates, unless it be the tiny hamlet of Spoonley in Salop (Shropshire). About one in ten of all British Isles locational surnames may originate from 'lost' villages, of which the only public reminder in the 20th century is the surname itself. Throughout the centuries, education being minimal, spelling being at best erratic, and local accents very 'thick', lead to the development of 'sounds like' surname spellings everywhere. In this case the meaning of the place name and hence the surname, is possibly 'the enclosure surrounded by a hedge', from the pre 7th century Olde English 'spen-leah'. Early examples of the surname recordings include:Emme Spendley who married Thomas Kyrhn (!) at St Pancras church, city of London, on February 16th 1548, and slightly later Raffe Spenley, who was a witness at the church of St Olave, also city of London, on July 1st 1555.

© Copyright: Name Origin Research 1980 - 2024