Fawley is the surname of a Pure-blood wizarding family. The name is notable for its inclusion in the “Sacred Twenty-Eight”, a historic list of families considered to be truly Pure-blood in the 1930s. Critically, no character with the surname Fawley appears or is mentioned in the seven original Harry Potter novels. All known information about this family comes from supplementary materials released by J.K. Rowling.
The sole mention of the Fawley family in the wizarding world canon comes from its inclusion in the Pure-Blood Directory, an anonymously published registry from the 1930s. This directory contained a list that became colloquially known as the “Sacred Twenty-Eight”, which purported to identify the twenty-eight truly Pure-blood families remaining in Great Britain. (Pottermore) The Fawley family's presence on this list suggests that, at least at the time of publication, they maintained a family tree with no known Muggle or Muggle-born ancestors. Families included in the Sacred Twenty-Eight were often proponents of Pure-blood supremacy, though some, like the Weasley family, rejected the ideology and their inclusion on the list. The Fawleys' stance on this matter is not recorded. (Pottermore) The family's history, lineage, and any potential involvement in major events such as the First Wizarding War or the Second Wizarding War are unknown.
Fawley is a real-world English surname of habitational origin, derived from several places in England, including Fawley in Buckinghamshire and Fawley in Hampshire. The name is believed to come from the Old English words fealg, meaning “fallow land” (land left unploughed), and lēah, meaning “wood” or “clearing”. The name can therefore be interpreted as “the fallow clearing” or “the pale-yellow wood”.