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Grays History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Citations

Grays History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Scotland
Ireland

The ancestors of the name Grays lived among the Boernician tribes of the ancient Scottish-English border region. The name derives from a nickname for a person who had gray hair. In Scotland, the surname Grays actually came from two different derivations. As a nickname, it came from the Gaelic word riabhach, which means gray. As a habitational name, it derived from the place named Graye, in Calvados. This place-name came from the Gallo-Roman personal name, Gratus, which means welcome or pleasing. Grays is therefore a nickname and a habitation name, which belongs to the category of hereditary surnames.

Early Origins of the Grays family

The surname Grays was first found in Northumberland, with Anschatel Groy of Haute Saone, Normandy, who fought with William the Conqueror in 1066 AD. After the conquest, Anschatel Groy settled in Chillingham, Northumberland. He was from the department of Haute Saone called Gray, sometimes Groy, or Croy, in Normandy.

From this house sprang the Grays of Suffolk, Kent, Tankerville, and Stamford. Some of the earliest records of the name include: Richard de Grey (born c. 1140); and his son, Sir Henry de Grey of Grays Thurrock, Essex (1155-1219), a favourite courtier of King John of England; and his son, Richard de Grey (died 1271) of Codnor, Derbyshire, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1258; and his brother Sir John de Grey (died 1266), an English soldier and High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire (1238-1239) and of High Sheriff of Herefordshire (1252-1253).

John de Gray (died 1214) was Bishop of Norwich in Norfolk, and later became Archbishop of Canterbury, but was never confirmed. Backworth in Northumberland was home to one branch of the family. "This place formerly belonged to Tynemouth priory, and afterwards to the Grey family, by whom it was sold to the late Duke of Northumberland, for £95,000." 1

Barcombe in Sussex was another ancient family seat. "It comprises 3106 acres, whereof 305 are common or waste; and is bounded on the east by the river Ouse, on which is a flour-mill that has existed since the Conquest, and has been for more than a century in the possession of the family of Mr. Russell Gray, who has also established an extensive oilmill at an expense of £10,000." 1

Early History of the Grays family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Grays research. Another 119 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1248, 1250, 1255, 1266, 1268, 1282, 1296, 1305, 1323, 1353, 1362, 1377, 1380, 1387, 1390, 1392, 1416, 1424, 1427, 1437, 1439, 1440, 1445, 1449, 1451, 1454, 1469, 1490, 1501, 1505, 1582, 1590, 1599, 1611, 1612, 1614, 1621, 1622, 1623, 1624, 1628, 1630, 1639, 1657, 1660, 1663, 1673, 1674, 1676 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Grays History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Grays Spelling Variations

Since medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, and since there were no consistent rules for the translation of rules from Gaelic to English, spelling variations are extremely common in Boernician names of this vintage. Grays has been spelled Gray, Grey, Groy, Croy, Graye and others.

Early Notables of the Grays family

Notable among the family at this time was Andrew Gray, 1st Lord Gray (c.1390-1469), a Scottish nobleman, politician and diplomat; Sir Andrew Gray (d. 1445) of Fowlis, Perthshire; Sir John Grey KG (c.1387-1439), English nobleman and soldier; Edmund Grey (1416-1490), English nobleman; Thomas Grey KG (1451-1501), 7th Baron Ferrers of Groby, 1st Earl of Huntingdon, and 1st Marquess of Dorset, an English nobleman and courtier; George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent (1454-1505), the son of Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent and Lady Katherine Percy, was the Second Earl of Kent from 1490 to 1505; Nicholas Grey (c.1590-1660), English headmaster of...
Another 106 words (8 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Grays Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Grays Ranking

In the United States, the name Grays is the 8,650^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 2

Migration of the Grays family to Ireland

Some of the Grays family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 60 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Grays migration to the United States +

Many of the Boernician-Scottish families who crossed the Atlantic settled along the eastern seaboard in communities that would become the backbone of the emerging nations of the United States and Canada. In the War of Independence, American families that remained loyal to the Crown moved north into Canada and became known as United Empire Loyalists. The ancestral culture of all of these proud Scottish families remains alive in North America in the 20th century through Clan societies and highland games. Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the name Grays or a variant listed above:

Grays Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Thomas Grays, who landed in Jamestown, Va in 1624 3

Grays Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Lawrence Grays, who landed in Virginia in 1745 3

Grays Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

John B Grays, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1820 3

Grays migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Grays Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Mr. William Grays, English convict who was convicted in Newington, London, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Eden" on 30th September 1848, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Island) 4

Contemporary Notables of the name Grays (post 1700) +

Charles E. Grays Jr., American Democratic Party politician, Candidate in primary for Texas State House of Representatives 95th District, 1994 5

Citations +

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 15th November 2021). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/eden
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 11) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html