Brady

An Irish surname of Antrim and Dublin. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 73,145 people, the 450th most common surname in the country.

Brady is the anglicised form of four distinct Irish names. Some you can hear in the English name; others look and sound nothing like it, and were simply swapped for it.

Mac Brádaigh, son of Brádach (spirited). This family stood in Co. Cavan.

Ó Bradacáin. This family stood in Co. Mayo.

Ó Brádaigh

Ó Gráda. This family stood in Co. Clare, Co. Galway, Co. Limerick, and Co. Meath.

Where the name comes from

Mac Brádaigh is son of Brádach, the spirited one, and it was a great Cavan family. Mac Brádaigh was chief of Cúil Bhríghde, the district around Stradone in Co. Cavan, and the surname is now very common in Ulster and in many parts of Leinster.

A quite separate family arrived at the same spelling by accident. Ó Gráda, descendant of Gráda, noble, was a distinguished Dalcassian family seated near the river Fergus in the south of Co. Clare; after 1318 they removed to the neighbourhood of Tomgraney and obtained from the O'Briens an extensive tract of land across Clare and Galway. In 1543 Donogh O'Grady, Captain of his nation, was knighted by Henry VIII and granted the lands of his clan by letters patent (an open royal grant, publicly recorded).

From about that time the surname got anglicised O'Brady and Brady in some unaccountable way. Hugh Brady, the first Protestant bishop of Meath, was a son of Sir Donogh O'Grady.

The Giant's Causeway at twilight with wet hexagonal basalt columns stretching to the sea and long exposure blurred waves
The Giant's Causeway, Co. Antrim

The Brady counties, photographed

Antrim

The Antrim coast road runs about 25 miles between the cliffs and the sea, with nine glens coming down to it. The rock is basalt, the same flow that formed the Giant's Causeway. Scotland is 12 miles off at the narrowest point and visible on a clear day.

The iconic Dark Hedges beech tree tunnel near Armoy in County Antrim with intertwined branches forming a brooding canopyThe Dark Hedges, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Long exposure of Pan's Rock with its footbridge at dawn on the Antrim Causeway Coast, silky water and blurred clouds, Rathlin Island on the horizonPan's Rock, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Sunrise over Colliery Bay with Fair Head cliffs and mountains, Co. Antrim, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxColliery Bay & Fair Head, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Dunluce Castle on coastal cliffs with long exposure sea, Co. Antrim, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxDunluce Castle, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Black and white photograph of a rainstorm sweeping across the Skerries islands off the North Antrim coast near PortrushRainstorm, the Skerries, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Sunset over Bengore Head with waves rolling over rocks, Co. Antrim, Ireland — fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxBengore Head, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Sunset over the Skerries coast in County Antrim with warm light reflecting on wet sand and rock formationsThe Skerries, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim

Dublin

Dublin is a county as well as a city. The bay has Howth at the north end and Killiney Hill at the south, the Muglins are a pair of rocks off Dalkey, and the Dublin Mountains start about half an hour from the city centre.

Moonlight reflecting on the sea near the Muglins lighthouse off Dalkey Island, Dublin, with the Kish light on the horizonThe Muglins by Moonlight II Co. Dublin Long exposure panoramic view of the White Rock swimming platform at Killiney Bay, Dublin, floating in misty high-tide watersThe White Rock, Killiney Bay, Co. Dublin Co. Dublin Heron fishing at dawn on the Dublin coast — fine art wildlife photograph by Peter CoxHeron, Co. Dublin Co. Dublin

All Antrim prints · All Dublin prints

Notable bearers

Tom Brady (born 1977), American football player.

Alice Brady (1892-1939), actor.

Wayne Brady (born 1972), film actor, television actor, and singer.

Robbie Brady (born 1992), association football player.

Mathew Benjamin Brady (1822-1896), journalist, photographer, and photojournalist.

About this page

The counties on this page are where the name was thickest on the ground in Ireland a century and a half ago, not a claim about any one family. Names moved around inside the country as much as they left it. The photographs are mine, made in the counties named.

More Irish surnames: Smith · Brown · Miller · Wilson · Anderson · Thomas · Taylor · Moore · Jackson · Martin · Lee · Thompson

How common the name was

In 1890, 261 births were registered under Brady in Ireland, most of them in Antrim, Cavan, Dublin, Longford, and Meath.

Ulster 125
Leinster 105
Connacht 21
Munster 10
Ireland 261

Cavan, Longford, and Meath are the ones I haven't worked in.