# Gray (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/gray/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname transferred from the nickname; originally a nickname for someone with a gray beard or hair.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 246,116 |
| US rank (2010) | 87 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 1,254 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.0% (236,713 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ɡɹeɪ/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | Grey |

## Etymology

* As an English, Irish, Scottish, and Norman surname, from the placename Graye-sur-Mer in Calvados, from Late Latin Graecus (“Greek”). * Also as an English surname, from the adjective gray. Compare the Irish calque McGreevy. * As a French surname, from Gray, Haute-Saône in France, from the personal name Gradus, a Gallo-Roman/Celtic pronunciation of Gratus, from the name Gratius.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Gray in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 69% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 25% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.9% |
| Two or more races | 2.3% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Gray in the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Australia, the Kingdom of Great Britain and Malaysia.

## People named Gray

- Macy Gray, American singer
- Henry Gray, British anatomist (1827–1861)
- Asa Gray, American botanist (1810–1888)
- Conan Gray, American singer-songwriter Mateo's boyfriend
- F. Gary Gray, American film director
- Stephen Gray, British chemist, physicist, astronomer
- Paul Gray, American bassist (1972–2010)
- Elisha Gray, American electrical engineer
- Linda Gray, American actress
- Jim Gray, American computer scientist (1944–2007/2012)
- Samuel Frederick Gray, British botanist, mycologist, and pharmacologist (1766-1828)
- John Gray, American family therapist, lecturer, and author (Born 1951)

and 80 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Gary, Garay, Grey, Grau, Garry, Garey, Gora, Gera, Guerra, Gore, Geary, Geer.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.