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English: status name for a steward or official from Middle English bailli ‘manager administrator’ (Old French baillis from Late Latin baiulivus an adjectival derivative of baiulus ‘attendant carrier porter’). English: habitational name from Bailey in Little Mitton Lancashire named with Old English beg ‘berry’ + lēah ‘woodland clearing’. English: occasionally a topographic name for someone who lived by the outer wall of a castle from Middle English (Old French) bailli ‘outer courtyard of a castle’ (Old French bail(le) ‘enclosure’ a derivative of bailer ‘to enclose’). This term became a placename in its own right denoting a district beside a fortification or wall as in the case of the Old Bailey in London which formed part of the early medieval outer wall of the city. Altered form of French Bailly .
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022