This is an English locational surname. Recorded as Hateley, Hately, Hatley, Hattley and others and often confused with Headley, Hadley or Hadleigh, it is locational. It is generally regarded as being from a now "lost" medieval village called Hateley Heath, in the town of West Bromwich in the midlands county of Staffordshire, although the three villages called Hatley in the county of Bedfordshire, are also possible sources of the name. Locational surnames are nearly always "from" names. That is to say names given to people as easy identification, after they left their original homes to move somewhere else. Given that over the centuries spelling was at best indifferent and local accents very thick, the further people moved, the more likely it was that the spelling would alter from the original, and be confused with something else. The meaning of the name is believed to be "The farm on the top of a hill" from the pre 6th century "hatt - leah", with hatt meaning a hill top, and leah, an area of ground fenced for agriculture. Early examples of recordings taken from surviving church registers include Robert Hatley at St Margarets Westminster on July 1th 1592, Jonathon Hattley at St Katherines Creechurch, city of London, on October 11th 1684, and Samuel Hateley at St Mathews Walsall on April 14th 1744