Motley Family History

English (Lincolnshire): nickname from Middle English motley ‘motley cloth or garments of a mixed color’ also ‘parti-colored variegated’ presumably denoting someone who wore motley or made motley clothing.

Habitational name from Mutley in Plymouth (Devon). The placename probably derives from Old English (ge)mōt ‘meeting’ + lēah ‘woodland clearing glade’.

Variant of Mutlow a habitational name from Mutlow in Marton (Cheshire) or from any of the many other minor places similarly named (Old English mōt-hlāw ‘meeting-mound’);

there are at least three more in Cheshire five in Derbyshire four in Cambridgeshire and examples in Northamptonshire and Essex.