Smiley Family Crest, Coat of Arms and Name History

The surname Smiley comes from the Old English word, smile, which means grin. Therefore, the surname Smiley would have been adopted by someone with a distinct smile, or grin. The Scottish family name Smiley is classified as being of English habitation origin. This term denotes names whose origin lies in the place of residence of the initial bearer of the surname and his family. Habitation names tell us from whence hailed the progenitor of the family; they can give us the exact location of the residence of the initial bearer. Some will even indicate a distinguishing sign which was associated with that residence. In the case of the family name Smiley, according to the author Harrison, this name originally identified a person who came from Smalley, located in Derbyshire. Before the system of hereditary surnames was formally established, it was the popular custom for a person to take a second name which served as identification for those who bore the same personal name. Variants of the surname Smiley, Smellie, Smyly, Smyley, Smilley, Smilie. The name “Smalley” appears early in Scottish records in the form of one “Ricardus Smaley”, a witness in the Glasgow Church Registers of circa 1280 – 1290. The placename means “narrow grove” or “wood”, derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century “smael”, meaning “narrow”, and “leah”, a grove or clearing in a wood. “Smillie”, or “Smiley” can also derive from a medieval nickname for someone of a cheerful disposition, from the Middle English word “smile”, meaning “smile” or “grin”. Examples of church recordings include Alexander Smelley at the church of St. Mary Somerset on April 12th 1574, Simon Smiley at St. Margarets, Westminster, on September 11th, 1681, and Margaret Smellie, at St. Dunstans, Stepney, on October 5th, 1648. An interesting mis-spelled recording is that of John Smallie, a passenger to the “Plantacon of New England” on March 15th, 1631 in the reign of Charles 1st. The Coat of Arms granted in London in 1744 has a blue field, charged with a gold bend between a lion rampant in chief and a silver buckle in base. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Smelie, which was dated 1612, Glasgow, during the reign of King James V1 of Scotland and 1 of England, 1603 – 1625.

Notable people with the surname Smiley are Edward Forbes Smiley III (b. 1956), convicted American art thief found guilty in 2006 of stealing 97 rare maps originally valued at more than US 3 million and sentenced to 42 months in prison
Brett Smiley (1955-2016), American singer-songwriter
Charles Hugh Smiley (1903-1977), American astronomer and academic, eponym of the main belt asteroid 1613 Smiley
Charles Smiley (b. 1954), American politician, Member of the Michigan House of Representatives (2011-)
Jane Smiley (b. 1949), American Pulitzer Prize-winning (1992) novelist for her novel A Thousand Acres (1991)
Gordon Smiley (1946-1982), an American race car driver, inducted into the Nebraska Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2000
Tava Michelle Smiley (b. 1971), American actress and television host
Arthur Lee “Red” Smiley (1925-1972), American bluegrass and country musician, posthumously inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1992
John Smiley (b. 1965), American Major League Baseball pitcher who played from 1986 to 1997
Rickey Smiley, American standup comedian, television host, actor, and radio personality

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Blazons & Genealogy Notes

1) Azure a bend or, between a lion rampant in chief, and a bugle in base, stringed, argent. Crest: A dexter hand holding a crescent proper.
2) Azure, a chevron ermine between three pheons argent. Crest: An arm in armour, embowed proper, holding in the hand a pheon by the point thereof.