Garay History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Under the rule of England, land ownership in Ireland changed dramatically, and many native Irish families found themselves renting out land to farm from absentee owners. This was one of the prime reasons that immigration to North America began in the late 18th century: Irish farmers dreamed of owning their own parcel of land to work for themselves. At this point, the immigrants were at least of modest means for the passage across the Atlantic was often quite dear. In the 1840s the Great Potato Famine created an exodus of people of quite different means. These people were most often destitute: they either sold anything they had to gain a passage or they were sponsored by philanthropic societies. Many of these immigrants were sick from disease and starvation: as a result many did not survive the long transatlantic journey. Although those settlers that did survive were often despised and discriminated against by people already established in these nations, they were critical to rapid development of the powerful industrial nations of the United States and the country that would later become known as Canada. An examination of immigration and passenger lists shows many persons bearing the name of Garay or one of its variants:

• Antonio Garay (b. 1979), American football defensive tackle
• Soo Garay, Canadian actress from Toronto
• Jesús Garay Vecino (1930-1995), Spanish footballer
• Ramón J. Garay (1896-1956), Spanish film actor who appeard in over 30 films between 1941 and his death in 1956
• Hugo Hernán Garay (b. 1980), Argentine bronze medalist light heavyweight boxer
• Antonio Gumersindo "Sindo" Garay Garcia (1867-1968), Cuban trovan artists taught by Pepe Sánchez who lived to be 101 years old
• Juan Carlos Garay (b. 1968), retired footballer from Ecuador
• Fernanda Garay Rodrigues (b. 1986), Brazilian professional two-time gold medalist volleyball player
• Ezequiel Marcelo Garay González (b. 1986), Argentine professional footballer