Grant

An Irish surname of Antrim and Donegal. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 142,277 people, the 196th most common surname in the country.

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

de Grannt. This family stood in Co. Cork, Co. Kilkenny, Co. Tipperary, and Co. Waterford.

Gránda

Grannt

Mac Gráinne

Mag Gránna

Where the name comes from

de Grannt is the Norman le Graunt, the great, gigantic in size. That family came before the end of the 13th century and settled in Kilkenny, Tipperary, Waterford and Cork. The Grants were also a Scottish clan, some of whom settled in Ulster at the time of the plantation and are still represented there.

Gránda is the opposite compliment: it is the Irish for ugly, an epithet which took the place of the real surname. It is, as might be expected, extremely rare, and it comes out as Grany, Granny and Grant.

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 Grant 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

Donegal

Slieve League is about 600 metres from clifftop to sea, one of the highest sea cliffs in Europe. Errigal is the highest mountain in the county at 751 metres, and it's quartzite, so it turns pink in low light. Glenveagh National Park covers about 16,000 hectares behind them.

Nocturne, Fanad Head, Co. DonegalNocturne, Fanad Head, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal Fanad Head Lighthouse at dawn with sunrise over Inishowen, Co. Donegal, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxFanad Head at Dawn, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal St. John's Point Lighthouse standing on the headland on a bright spring day with green grass, DonegalSt. John's Point Lighthouse, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal Tory Island Lighthouse beam sweeping through hazy night air on both sides of the tower in a long exposure on the Donegal coastNocturne, Tory Island Lighthouse, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal Intense double rainbow arching across the sky over green mountains near Glencolmcille in County DonegalRainbow, Glencolmcille, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal Black and white view of Glengesh Pass with a winding road through rolling hills, Co. Donegal — fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxGlengesh Pass, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal

All Antrim prints · All Donegal prints

Notable bearers

Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), writer, politician, and military personnel.

Cary Grant (1904-1986), actor, writer, and comedian.

Hugh Grant (born 1960), film actor, stage actor, and film producer.

Lee Grant (born 1925), actor, screenwriter, and film director.

Julia Grant (1826-1902), politician.

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, 77 births were registered under Grant in Ireland, most of them in Antrim and Donegal.

Ulster 42
Leinster 21
Munster 13
Connacht 1
Ireland 77