Talk:Presley
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There can be no doubt that many may be transfixed by some edition of some book (or even several books) of name origins as some sort of final word. Possessing ancestral lineages of several of the many thousands of unique family surnames of obscure origins, it seems to me that the mere placement in a book of a name origin is insufficient to document anything.
I am grievously dissatisfied with the claim that Pressly has some originally English-derived meaning unknown these days when any Celtic languages scholar would know better than thinking that the supposedly English surnames of that sound would be other than more likely Celtic language-formed and -derived surnames, perhaps in a transitional zone where English and Gallic (or Gaelic or Cymraeg) were both spoken to some extent, perhaps not.
Can anyone make sense that a name origin book claim, even if dramatically footnoted, or multiple and repetitive such printed claims, trumps simple logic and knowledge of the languages which seem to be from one or more of the primary areas a surname appears in great numbers, namely those of the Celtic peoples of Alba, Cymru and Éire? There are other languages of the Celtic Isles (a designation that makes more sense than the British Isles in light of the fact that three of the isles' four regions are of Celtic origins) besides English, even if many authors and English conquerors throughout history prefer to disguise this reality by stamping out many references to the native languages whenever the mood strikes or the times allows.
There must be one or more such Celtic language experts in the Wiki-orbit for it is known that there are Celtic words that appear to fit the two syllables, for instance:
(1) (a) In Welsh we have prys defined on-line as
"1. bush n.m. wood n.m.";
and
(1) (b) "lle" is defined also on-line as
1. place n.m. (lleoedd/llefydd) accommodation n.m. (lleoedd/llefydd) room n.m. (lleoedd/llefydd) lle (=space set aside for purpose)
2. area n.m. (llefydd)
(2) In Gaelic and Gallic (Scottish Gaelic) similar words should exist with similar if not identical meanings, as all three languages are branches of the Insular Celtic languages, as that phrase is discussed at wikipedia. The obstruction to determining these possible choices is the lack of a large translation dictionary to seek out such words. Once they are obtained, all such two word Celtice derivations, if at all conceivable of being employed in creating a surname, will stand on at least an equal plane with the one provided absent some documentation of how such a claimed derivation was determined.
The first instance, the one using Welsh, should be enough to alert all that there might be a Celtic source for the name Pressly explaining their apparent Scottish origins. It might well be that that there is an English origin for the name as well with spellings of Pressley/Presley/Pressly all being used at this date. It seems to be a proven fact that the name Presley has at least a second origin, as a derivative from Preslar/Presler, a name of germanic origins, as set forth as likely in the Presley article here at wikipedia.
These name origin books are attempts to determine every surname origin, but undoubtedly many "origins" are no more than bold guesses. The origin given currently at the surname page Presley is patently an implicit, but unwritten and undiscussed, claim that Presley is derivative from the well-established surname Priestly. This can be true most likely for one or more Presley families but there appears to be a lack of any exposition of factors of why it is also the source of, or the origin of, the name Pressly and Pressley as found in Scotland and Ireland, such as the apparent Scottish or Scots-Irish origin of the Pressly of the actress Jaime Pressly whose birth location of Kinston, North Carolina places her as likely from one of two or three or more colonial South Carolina families of Pressley/Pressly surnames most comprising fervent Presbyterians of which some at least were Covenanters. One need only review books on the ministers of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian denomination to note several of the surname Pressly and even one church bearing that surname as a memorial in Statesville, North Carolina.