Greasley Family History

Usually from Church and Castle Gresley (Derbys), from which an influential Norman family took its name. Greasley (Notts) may have given rise to another family name of lower social status, but this is hard to verify. Both place-names derive from Old English lēah ‘open woodland’ with an uncertain first element, possibly Old English grēosn ‘gravel’. Some of the following early bearers may alternatively belong under (2), particularly the Lancs examples.

Either from Old French greslet ‘marked as by hail’, i.e., pitted or pock-marked, or more likely perhaps from Old French greslet, gresli, grailet ‘thin, slim’. In early forms, the nickname has sometimes been confused with the place-name in (1).

Compare Le Gresley in Jersey and Greslé, Grêlé in France. See also Grail, to which the 1272-86 and 1295 bearers may alternatively belong.