[Surname] Re: Last name Shipley
by Andy ;—) (guest)
2/20/2005, 9:58 PM
English: habitational name from any of the various places, for example in Derbyshire, County Durham, Northumberland, Shropshire, Sussex, and West Yorkshire, so called from Old English scēap, scīp ‘sheep’ + lēah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’.
(Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press)
So the meaning would be "(dweller by a) clearing or pasture, where sheep are kept"