Wheatley (surname)
Wheatley is an English surname which translates into Old English as "from the wheat meadow". Alternative spellings include Wheatly, Whatley, Whitley, and Wheatleigh. Whether this is an association of work, or of origin, is debatable. It is probable that the now fairly common surname and its derivatives originate from one who farms wheat. However, the surname "de Wheatley" ("of Wheatley") was in use from around the 12th century, and ascribed to some of those that came from the town of Wheatley in Oxfordshire, England, which was founded around 956 AD. It was also around the 12th century that the custom of adopting a father's name, or his profession, as a surname, became more prevalent.
Other theories ascribe to the belief that most of the ancestry comes from a John Wheatland, who was a very wealthy land owner in Surrey, England. The Wheatland name was then corrupted into Wheatley, Wheatleigh, and in some cases Wheatly.
List of persons with the surname Wheatley
- Alan Wheatley, actor
- Ben Wheatley, Animator, Director
- Blane Wheatley
- Doug Wheatley, comic book artist
- Dennis Wheatley, author
- Francis Wheatley (disambiguation), several people
- Glenn Wheatley, Australian artist manager and entertainment industry executive
- Henry B. Wheatley, author
- Jane Wheatley
- Joanne Wheatley, winner of The Great British Bake Off (series 2)
- Joe Wheatley, English footballer
- John Wheatley (disambiguation), several people
- Kevin Arthur Wheatley, Australian soldier
- Leon F. Wheatley (1872–1944), New York politician
- Margaret J. Wheatley, management consultant
- Martin Wheatley, British financier
- Sir Mervyn Wheatley, English politician
- Colonel Moreton John Wheatley, CB, RE (1837–1916), Bailiff of The Royal Parks
- Ossie Wheatley, English cricketer
- Paul Wheatley (disambiguation), several people
- Peter Jaffrey Wheatley
- Phil Wheatley
- Phillis Wheatley, poet
- Rebecca Wheatley, actor
- Samuel E. Wheatley, Commissioner of the District of Columbia
- Thomas Wheatley (disambiguation), several people
- Tyrone Wheatley, American footballer
- Major-General William Wheatley, of the Grenadier Guards
- Willard Wheatley (1915–1997), Chief Minister of the British Virgin Islands
- William Wheatley (1816–1876), American actor
- William O. Wheatley, Jr. (born c. 1944), American TV executive