Foley as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Foley

What is the meaning of the name Foley ?

The baby name Foley is a Male name , 2 syllables long and is pronounced FOH-lee (IPA: /ˈfoʊ.li/).

Foley is Irish in Origin.

Foley is an Irish surname-turned-given name, pronounced FOH-lee. It stems from the Gaelic Ó Foghladha (modern Ó Foghlú), meaning “descendant of the plunderer,” from Old Irish foghail/fogail “plundering.” The root personal name Foghlaidh carried the sense of raider or marauder, a common warrior epithet that later solidified as a hereditary surname.

As a forename, Foley emerged in the Anglophone world through the 19th–20th‑century fashion for transferred surnames and remains rare but familiar in Ireland, Britain, and the United States. The surname clusters in Munster (notably Waterford and Kerry) and also appears in England via the prominent Worcestershire ironmaster Foley family. Variants and related forms include Irish Ó Foghlú/Ó Foghladha, the Anglicized O’Foley, and the occasional spelling Fowley; short forms such as Fo or Lee occur in informal use. The name reads modern and brisk while retaining deep Gaelic heritage.

⚙ Foley is rarely chosen. We have only 44 recorded uses of it on record, from 14 countries.