Grady
An anglicized Irish surname from O'Grady, meaning a descendant of Gráda or a similar Gaelic personal name.
The #1,355 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 11,828 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Grady is the reduced, anglicized form of the Irish surname O'Grady, meaning “descendant of Grady.” The older Gaelic form behind it is usually given as Ó Gráda, though 19th-century writers sometimes explained the family name through different legendary ancestors. In modern surname scholarship, it is treated as an Irish patronymic with the Gaelic prefix O' later dropped in many families.
History
The name is long associated with Irish families in County Clare and later County Limerick. Historical sources show both forms, O'Grady and Grady, in use, and by the 19th and 20th centuries the shorter form had become common in official records and everyday use. The surname also appears among Irish emigrant communities abroad, especially in English-speaking countries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname lists show Grady alongside O'Grady, reflecting how many Irish families dropped the prefix O' in everyday use before later restoring it in some branches.
From the historical record
“GRADDON. See Gratton. GRADY. The Ii-ish patronymical O'Grady, sans 0. GRAEiSIE. According to the Scottish genealogists, who, as'Camden tells us, " think surnames as ancient as the moon," this illustrious patronymic is derived from Greme, who was regent of Scotland during the minority of Eugene II. (commencing AD…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom