William Gray was born on 8 March 1822 as the son of Timothy Gray and Maria Haines.
English, Scottish, and Irish (especially Eastern Ulster; of Norman origin): habitational name from Graye in Calvados, France, named from the Gallo-Roman personal name Graec(i)us, meaning ‘Greek’ + the locative suffix -acum. This is probably the chief source of the surname in Britain.
English: nickname for someone with gray hair or a gray beard, from Middle English grey (Old English grǣg, grēg) ‘gray’. In Ireland it has been used as a translation of various Gaelic surnames derived from riabhach ‘brindled, gray’, including Mac Giolla Riabhaigh; see McGreevy . In North America, this surname has assimilated names with similar meaning from other languages.
French: habitational name from Gray in Haute-Saône or Le Gray in Seine-Maritime.
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