Meaning & Origin
A placename: A village and civil parish on the Thames in Vale of White Horse district, Oxfordshire, England, originally in Berkshire . An unincorporated community in Liberty Township, Grant County, Indiana, United States. An unincorporated community in Crawford County, Kansas, United States.
Radley is a boy's and girl's baby name of Old English origin, from the English place name meaning 'red clearing' or 'red meadow,' from the Old English read (red) and leah (clearing). As a given name, it carries the literary association of Boo Radley in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird — one of American fiction's most poignant characters.
Radley has a distinctly literary, thoughtful quality for parents who love the Mockingbird connection. The character of Boo Radley — reclusive, misunderstood, ultimately gentle and brave — gives this name a complex emotional depth that's unusual for a place-name.