How common is the surname Gray?

246,116 people in the United States had the surname Gray in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 1,254 Americans. It ranked 87th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Gray?

Macy Gray, American singer, followed by Henry Gray.

Where is the surname Gray most common?

Wikidata records people named Gray in the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and 3 other countries.

How do you pronounce Gray?

Gray is /ɡɹeɪ/, one syllable.

Is the surname Gray getting more or less common?

More common. 236,713 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 246,116 in 2010, up 4.0%.

Is Gray also a first name?

Yes. Gray is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Gray

A place surname, the 87th most common in the United States.

Pronounced /ɡɹeɪ/ 1 syllable Soundex G600 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Gray is more common than 99.9% of them.

Origin

* 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.

Gray is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 246,116 people named Gray in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 1,254 Americans. That is up 4.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 236,713.

#87

rank among US surnames

246,116

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+4%

change since 2000 (was #79)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#78	Cox	261,231	1,182
#79	Ward	260,464	1,185
#80	Richardson	259,798	1,188
#81	Watson	252,579	1,222
#82	Brooks	251,663	1,227
#83	Chavez	250,898	1,231
#84	Wood	250,715	1,231

Who is named Gray

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

69% of people named Gray identified as white (not Hispanic), 25% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

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

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Grays

92 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Macy Gray
American singer, born 1967
Henry Gray
British anatomist (1827–1861)
Asa Gray
American botanist (1810–1888)
Conan Gray
American singer-songwriter Mateo's boyfriend, born 1998
F. Gary Gray
American film director, born 1969
Stephen Gray
British chemist, physicist, astronomer, 1666–1736
Paul Gray
American bassist (1972–2010)
Elisha Gray
American electrical engineer, 1835–1901
Linda Gray
American actress, born 1940
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)

Notable Grays come mostly from the United States (77), the United Kingdom (7) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (4).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Grey

Surnames that sound like Gray

Gray has the Soundex code G600, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code G600.

Questions

Where does the surname Gray come from?: * 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…
How common is the surname Gray?: 246,116 people in the United States had the surname Gray in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 1,254 Americans. It ranked 87th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Gray?: In the 2010 Census, 69% of people named Gray identified as white (not Hispanic), and 25% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Gray?: Macy Gray, American singer, followed by Henry Gray.
Where is the surname Gray most common?: Wikidata records people named Gray in the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and 3 other countries.
How do you pronounce Gray?: Gray is /ɡɹeɪ/, one syllable.
What type of surname is Gray?: Gray is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Gray getting more or less common?: More common. 236,713 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 246,116 in 2010, up 4.0%.
What are other spellings of Gray?: Grey.
Is Gray also a first name?: Yes. Gray is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.