Contact me

This site has been set up, and is maintained by, Michael Cayley - see about me. I am always delighted to hear from people interested in the Cayley family, and to respond to queries and requests for information. I welcome information about any aspects of Cayley family history, and suggestions for additions to this website. If you would like to get in touch with me, you can either leave a comment with your email address in the guestbook, or email me at cayley@one-name.org

The name “Cayley” comes from a village called Cailly in Normandy, and the first members of the family to settle in England came with the Norman invasion of 1066. Over the next two centuries they acquired estates in East Anglia, Sussex, Gloucestershire and Yorkshire. By Tudor times the surname had evolved from "de Cailly" to "Cayley". Eventually the main branch settled in Yorkshire at a village called Brompton, inland from Scarborough. Since then the family has spread, and members are to be found in various English counties, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the USA and elsewhere.

There are a number of Cayleys not clearly linked to the Brompton Cayleys. It is possible that some descend from members of the family who stayed in East Anglia in the Middle Ages. The same may be true for some "Caley" families - this is a surname associated with East Anglia.

Medieval records suggest that some families with the surname Callaway, Kellaway (or other variants) may have descended from a branch of the de Cailly family, but this is not definitively proven.

Census and other information implies that in the 19th century a few Irish immigrants to England with surnames Kelly or Cawley changed them to Cayley.

Please leave any comments on this site or matters relating to the history of the Cayley families in the guestbook below. There is also a forum page on this site for discussion of Cayley family history matters.

There is a Cayley family history study registered with the Guild of One-Name Studies.

For discussion of matters related to Cayley family history, and posting of queries, there is also a Yahoo Discussion Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cayleyfamilyhistory/