Wheatley is an English surname which translates into Old English as "from the wheat meadow". Alternative spellings include Wheatly, Whatley, Whitley, and Wheatleigh. Whether this is an association of work, or of origin, is debatable. It is probable that the now fairly common surname and its derivatives originate from one who farms wheat. However, the surname "de Wheatley" ("of Wheatley") was in use from around the 12th century, and ascribed to some of those that came from the town of Wheatley in Oxfordshire, England, which was founded around 956 AD. It was also around the 12th century that the custom of adopting a father's name, or his profession, as a surname, became more prevalent.
Other theories ascribe to the belief that most of the ancestry comes from a John Wheatland, who was a very wealthy land owner in Surrey, England. The Wheatland name was then corrupted into Wheatley, Wheatleigh, and in some cases Wheatly.
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