Gray

An Irish surname of Antrim and Dublin. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 246,116 people, the 87th most common surname in the country.

Gray 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 Grae

Grae

Liath

Mac Cúilriabhaigh, son of Cúlriabhach (grey-poll)

Mac Giolla Riabhaigh, son of Giolla riabhach (the grey youth, from riabhach, grey, brindled). This family stood in Co. Sligo.

Where the name comes from

Gray arrives twice over as a Norman name: de Grey, of Grey, probably somewhere in England, and le Grey, the grey, from the colour of the hair. Both occur in early records and the first was by far the more common.

It also stands in for Irish names about grey hair. Liath is simply the Irish for grey or hoary, an epithet which supplanted the real surname; Mac Cúilriabhaigh is son of the grey-poll; and Mac Giolla Riabhaigh is son of the grey youth, from riabhach, grey or brindled.

That last family is worth a look. One branch of the Ui Fiachrach was seated at Creaghaun in the parish of Skreen, Co. Sligo; a Clare family of the name were servants of trust to the Earls of Thomond and held the castle of Craigbrien in the parish of Clondagad. They are still in Thomond, where the surname is now always Gallery. In the midlands it was sometimes made Callery and sometimes translated Gray, and Kilgray is a half translation that gave up halfway.

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 Gray 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

John Edward Gray (1800-1875), botanist, zoologist, and scientific collector.

Thomas Gray (1716-1771), writer, poet, and historian.

Henry Gray (1827-1861), writer, physician, and biologist.

Macy Gray (born 1967), actor, singer, and musician.

George Robert Gray (1808-1872), zoologist, ornithologist, and curator.

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, 117 births were registered under Gray in Ireland, most of them in Antrim, Down, Dublin, and Londonderry.

Ulster 70
Leinster 33
Connacht 7
Munster 7
Ireland 117

Down and Londonderry are the ones I haven't worked in.