A Scottish and English surname, the name Gray refers to a man with gray hair, or a gray beard. It originally came from the Latin term ’gratus’ which meant welcome. Then from the Old English term of ‘groeg‘ which meant grey.

Additional spellings for Gray include McGrath, McGray, Grey and Legrey.

The London area and counties to the north of London have a high concentration of Gray families in England. Also in the English counties of Durham and Yorkshire are greater numbers of the Gray surname. In Scotland most with the Gray surname are centered in Lanarkshire county. Those with the Gray surname in Ireland originally came from Scotland.

The states of Texas, California, Missouri, Virginia, Massachusetts, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois within the United States have the highest numbers of families named Gray.

Famous: James Gray (film maker), Harold Gray (cartoonist), Erin Gray (actress), Dick gray (Irish-American baseball player), Linda Esther Gray (opera singer from Scotland), Quinn Gray (professional football player), Simon Gray (English playwright) and William N. Gray (hurricane expert).