Tooley

name

"tooley" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Tooley” is uncommon English (frequency #81,909 among 27,828 “T” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#81,909
frequency rank, English
27,828
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A surname from Old Norse.

Corpus desk

Index EN-tooley · Tooley · English

Tooley · rank #81,909 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #81,909
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 27,828
  • PHOTO-FINISH Toohey

Nearest frequency peer: Toohey (-2 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “Tooley”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “Tooley” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of May 6, 2026
Key facts for Tooley
PropertyValue
HeadwordTooley
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters6
Frequency rank#81,909
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “Tooley” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). Tooley lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Tooley is uncommon English at frequency #81,909 among 27,828 “T” headwords, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A surname from Old Norse.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for Tooley, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Anglicized form of the Old Norse personal name Þórleifr, which is composed of the elements Þórr (“Thor”) and leifr (“inheritor”) (compare líf). (Note: Tooley Street in London, England, is of Old Norse origin, but is not from Þórleifr. It is a shortening of … The correct English form is Tooley, spelled T-O-O-L-E-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A surname from Old Norse.

Etymology

Anglicized form of the Old Norse personal name Þórleifr, which is composed of the elements Þórr (“Thor”) and leifr (“inheritor”) (compare líf). (Note: Tooley Street in London, England, is of Old Norse origin, but is not from Þórleifr. It is a shortening of Sant Ole, meaning Saint Olaf.)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Tooley"?
"Tooley" is spelled T-O-O-L-E-Y.
What does "Tooley" mean?
As a proper noun, "Tooley" means: A surname from Old Norse.
What is the origin of the word "Tooley"?
Anglicized form of the Old Norse personal name Þórleifr, which is composed of the elements Þórr (“Thor”) and leifr (“inheritor”) (compare líf). (Note: Tooley Street in London, England, is of Old Norse origin, but is not from Þórleifr. It is a shor... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Tooley", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list