I would like to know the origin of the surname "Delley" - if it's a
town or something, what the meaning behind the word 'delley' is.  It
is, I believe, a swiss surname (this is my officemates name, and he
claims it has no meaning :) )

Hello yumbrad-ga,

That's a tough one. It is often hard to determine the exact origin of
a surname because surnames usually change over time due to any number
of factors (misspellings, mispronounciations, immigrants wanting to
simplify or 'anglicize', etc.). The same surname may also originate
from several different locations and, as a result, have several
different origins. The only way to know the true origin of a
particular family name is to trace that family back to the time the
surname first came into use. That being said, I have found the
following information which may be of some help in your quest:

There is a commune by the name of Delley in the Freiburg Canton of
Switzerland. Here is a link to their official Web page (which includes
some photos from the early 20th century):
http://portalban-delley.ch/delley/index.htm

Here is a page on the genealogy/heraldry of the Delley surname in
Switzerland. This page includes a list of the areas of Switzerland in
which this surname is commonly found, armorial bearings of two people
with the Delley surname, a list of personal Web pages by people with
the Delley surname (most appear to have nothing to do with genealogy)
and a list of email contacts:
http://www.diesbach.com/sghcf/d/delley.html

The above site also includes a message from Alain de Delley, in Nice
(F, 06): alaindedelley@voila.fr who says that he has established the
family tree of Oscar Ernest de Delley from 1605.

One of the best sites for French genealogy (and related countries) is
Geneanet.org. I visited their site and did a search on the Delley
surname to find information based on submissions from users.

Here is a link on Geneanet to a surname distribution for the surname
Delley (based only on the submissions for that surname made to their
site):
http://www.geneanet.org/patrostats/result.php3?name=delley

Here is a link on Geneanet to a list of researchers who have indexed
their family trees on the site and who have someone by the name of
Delley in their family tree:
http://www.geneanet.org/result.php3?lang=en&name=delley&place=&end=&source=&x=20&y=4

If you need translation help with any of the above sites, you can
either download and use the nifty Google toolbar at
http://toolbar.google.com or go directly to
://www.google.com/language_tools and enter the URL (be sure the
select the languages).


Also, it is important to remember that these families mentioned above
may or may not have any relation to the family of your coworker. The
only way to know the true origin of his surname is to trace his
individual family tree back in time.

Also, as suggested in one of the comments, I would take the
information found on surname history/coats of arms sites with a grain
of salt. Coats of Arms are granted to individuals, not surnames, and
therefore those Web sites sell generic information which may have
nothing to do with the family history of your co-worker. For more
information on this topic see:

Coats of Arms & Family Crests
http://genealogy.about.com/library/tips/blcoatofarms.htm

Excuse Me, But There's No Such Thing as a Family Crest 
http://www.fleurdelis.com/nofamilycrest.htm

Psst! Want to Buy Your Name?
http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comconsumerpsst.htm


If you are interested in further research on the subject, here are
some general resources which you may find useful:

Surname Meanings & Origins
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/surnameorigins/

Genealogy in Swiss-Speaking Switzerland
http://www.unige.ch/biblio/ses/jla/gen/int00-e.html

Introduction to Researching Swiss Ancestors
http://www.eye.ch/swissgen/intro-e.htm

Swiss Genealogy Links
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/switzerland/

France Research Outline
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/RG/frameset_rg.asp?Dest=G1&Aid=&Gid=&Lid=&Sid=&Did=&Juris1=&Event=&Year=&Gloss=&Sub=&Tab=&Entry=&Guide=France.ASP

Beginner's Guide to Researching Your French Ancestry
http://genealogy.about.com/library/weekly/aa070700a.htm

France GenWeb
http://www.francegenweb.org/

French Genealogy Links
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/france/



Search Terms Used:
delley switzerland
delley genealogie
swiss patronyms
delley surname meaning
delley origin

...plus, a knowledge of the subject and Web sites which would serve as
good resources.

I hope this helps! Best of luck in your search.

inquisitive-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by inquisitive-ga on 18 Jun 2002 11:47 PDT

Hello,

Many early French surnames began as locative bynames (a last name,
based on his town or location, given to an individual to distinguish
him from others by the same name. I believe Delley to be one of these,
and I apologize if my answer did not make this clear. In other words,
the surname probably originated from the town of that name.

Here is one Web site which mentions this as the origin of the Delley
name:
http://isuisse.ifrance.com/ssgf/delley.htm

Roughly translated the site says that Delley comes from the name of
the commune of Delley, of the district of Broye since 1848. The name
probably originated from delé (of the patois "dialect" common to
French-speaking Switzerland) which means "other side." They question
whether that means the "other side of the lake or mountains of Vully."

For more on Patois:
http://www.sav.org/flex.html
http://french.about.com/cs/dialects/index.htm

For an introduction to Medieval Bynames:
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/bynames/

Hope this helps to clarify. Thank you for using Google Answers.

inquisitive-ga

---

Request for Answer Clarification by yumbrad-ga on 18 Jun 2002 13:16 PDT

That additional information is very interesting, and is new to both of
us... is there a way to up my rating based on your clarification? 
That's 5 stars :)

---

Clarification of Answer by inquisitive-ga on 18 Jun 2002 17:18 PDT

Hello yumbrad-ga,

Thank you so much for asking how you can increase my rating.
Unfortunately question askers cannot change their ratings at this
time. But it is nice to know that my answer has satisfied you :-)

inquisitive-ga

Thank you for the info... I figured it would be difficult to eke out a
specific origin, but hoped someone knew of a resource I didn't...
Which you did - even if they didn't give the meaning, it's good
information!

Wow, this is a toughie. 

I can usually nail down surname meanings in seconds flat but not this
one. What I did find out is that it is Swiss by way of France. Most
Swiss surnames do not originate in Switzerland but from some other
european country (like France). The name (and municipality in
Switzerland) does have a crest or coat of arms associated with it
which can be found here:

http://fotw.unislabs.com/images/c/ch-fr012.gif

Which means that it is both a place name and a family name. If I were
to guess I'd say that it is a variation on the Fr. family name "Delle"
which simply means "of the"  or "to lead" and probably was shortened
from some much longer  name like Del le (insert something important to
the nobles here).

He probably has some ancestor who was quite the celebrity back when
heralds were the thing...a lion couchant with double lines speaks to
not only noble birth but some battle action...but the migration from
France ( one of the lands of the Romance languages) to Switzerland
probably managed to mangle and truncate the name beyond recognition.
Germanic tongues are not kind to those derived from Rome.

If he really, really, really wants to know he can purchase the
information from here:

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/4crests/index.html

But they aren't giving it up for free. I also can't speak to their
accuracy. But Delley is in the list...

Thank you for that information, I'll talk to him tomorrow and see what
he thinks.  I'm a little suspicious of that yahoo store though - I
entered zxcvqwerty as a name and was greeted with 'Yes, we do have
your name available!' :)

The presence of the lion on the crest perhaps means it's a corruption
of De Leon ? De Leo?

There are a few Delley names at www.familysearch.org.They seem to come
from all over the place.England,Scotland,Switzerland and Germany.

yumbrad-ga,
Hello, I am the owner of the yahoo store in question.  Actually, we
don't have a search function on our site.  What you were pressing was
the ORDER button. We don't have a SEARCH button on our site.  We have
had so many people think it was a search that we were forced to put
the "Yes, We have your surname available" statement on the next page
so they wouldn't leave our store thinking their search was negative. 
I haven't come up with a good solution to this problem yet.  I can see
how it could be confusing, so I have changed the wording a little.  If
you would like, I can email you a free copy of the Delley Coat of Arms
we have on file.  Please keep in mind however that this is the coat of
arms for someone who once had the Delley surname.  It may or may not
be your direct line.