The name of an illustrious family of Anglo-Norman origin which settled in Scodand early in the twelfth century. The name is derived from Old English grasgham, 'grey home,' from the manor of that name (temp. Domesday Book). The popular derivation from a chief named Grim or Gram who broke through the wall of the emperor Antoninus between the Forth and Clyde in 420 A.D., which afterwards from him became known as 'Graham's Dyke,' is nonsense. This legend, says Freeman the historian of the Norman Conquest, illustrates "the old-fashioned principle which has done so much to discredit genealogy and heraldry in the eyes of sensible men, that any exploded myth, any rubbish in fact, is good enough for family history It is almost incredible that a legend, which would now-a-days raise a laugh even in a Board school, should be gravely offered for the credence of our herd-headed colonial cousins." The first of the name recorded in Scotland is William de Graham who received from David I the lands of Abercorn and Dalkeith and is witness to several of that king's charters. The earliest in which his name appears is commonly said to be the foundation charter of Holyrood Abbey (LSC., I). This charter, as was usual in those times, is undated, but as the Chronicle of Melrose (p. 68) records the foundation of the Abbey in 1128 the charter has been assumed to be of the same date. William de Graham, however, appears in a charter the date of which Sir Archibald Lawrie places c. 1127 (ESC., p. 59). William de Graham next appears in a confirmation by King David of a grant by Gospatric frater Dolfini of Ederham and Nesebit to the monks of St. Cuthbert of Derham (Raine, 20), and c. 1141 he was one of the perambulators of the bounds of Clerchetune (now Clerkington) in Haddingtonshire (RPSA., p. 181). Henry de Graham, a great-grandson of this William, married the daughter of Roger Avenel, on whose death in 1243 he became possessed of the Avenel estates in Eskdale. The Grahams or Grahames were very numerous in Liddesdale and the Debateable Land, occupying almost the whole of the southern portion of the latter district, and also a portion of the northern or Scottish side. A sept of the Cumberland Grames, consisting of 124 persons, under their chief, "Walter, the gude man of Netherby," being troublesome on the Scottish Border in 1606 were transplanted from Cumberland to Roscommon in Ireland (Calendar of State Papers, Ireland, 1603—1606, p. 554). Sir John de Grahame of Dundaff, the faithful friend of the patriot Wallace, was slain at the battle of Falkirk, 1298. From the War of independence downwerds the Grahams have taken a prominent part in the affairs of Scotland, the two most outstanding individuals of the name being James Graham, first merquess of Montrose, who carried on the war in Scodand for Cherles I, and John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, who fell at Killiecrankie in 1689. In the Roll of the Scots Guards in France the name appears as Giresme, and on the Highland Border it was used as an Englishing of M'Gillemhearnaig, a sept name in the Graham country. Graam 1341, Grahaym 1532, Grahem 1561, Graheme 1547, Grahm and Grahme 1672, Grahym 1464, Graiham 1591, Grame 1411, Graym 1467, Grayme 1522, Greeme 1716, Grehme 1550, Greme 1778, and (undated) Graem, Gram, Grem, Greym, Greyme. See also Grim.

(Scot. - English) Dweller at the Grey Land or Enclosure [Old English grœg, grey + ham(m]

This Scottish name very numerous in Ulster, is used as an anglicized form of two Irish surnames viz Gormley and Grehan, q.v. IF 100*, 163*; App infra

“Grey Homestead”. Corruption of “Grantham” in Lincolnshire, brought to Scotland by the Normans.

(English, Scottish) Dweller at the gray homestead.

Originally Graeme-savage, gloomy. The family are descended, it is supposed, from Greme, a general in the army of Fergus H, 404.

From the Anglo Saxon Grim, Dutch, Grim, German, Grimm, Welsh, grem, Gaelic, gruaim, surly, sullen, dark, having a fierce and stem look, courageous.

Or De Tancarville. Graham in all the early records of England means Grantham in Lincoln; and William de Graham, who settled in Scotland t. David I., c. 1128, and obtained Abercorne and Dalkeith (Douglas), came from Grantham. He must have been of an important family there, and the only family of that kind was that of De Tancarville, which held the Barony of Grantham in farm from the Crown after the Conquest for above a century. The English branches of the De T.s were generally named Chamberlain, and the Chamberlains of Lincoln, probably a branch of the T.s, bore three escallops, which three escallops appear in the arms of the De Grahams or Granthams, originally from Lincoln also. It may therefore be inferred that William de Grantham was a younger son of the Baron of Tancarville, who had held the office of Seneschal of Grantham under his father. The family of Tankarville probably derived from Tancred, c. 912, whose fief on the settlement of Normandy was named Tancardivilla. Rabel, his son, left his name to Rabel’s Isle, and Rabelsfoss, mentioned in early records. Gerold, Baron of Tancarville, towards the end of the 10th cent. (D’Anisy et St. Marie, Sur Domesday), was father of Rabel II., t. Duke Robert, who had two sons: 1. Ralph; 2. Almeric D’Abetot, ancestor of the Viscounts of Worcester. Ralph was guardian to Duke William, hereditary Chamberlain of Normandy, and founder of Bocherville Abbey. William, his son, had 1. Rabel, ancestor of the Chamberlains of Normandy; 2. William de Graham. From this family descended the famous Marquis of Montrose, and the brave Viscount Dundee; also Sir James Graham of Netherby, the eminent statesman.

From Graham; a location name. near Kesteven, Lincolnshire Orfrom the Danish, Gram; a personal name William de Graham settled in Scotland in the twelfth century.

Graham (Scotch), Grim, Savage; for this name resem­bles rather the Anglo-Saxon word “grim”-i. e., sharp, savage, cruel, grim-than the Celtic “gruamach,”-i. e., sullen, morose, gloomy,-and is of the same class as the German name Grimm, the French le Sauvage, the Dutch de Wilde, q. v., and the English Savage and Wild.

The traditionary descent of this family from one Grime, who in the fifth century made a breach in the wall of Severus, probably saved them from being classed with the Campbells, Cumyns, Frasers, Grants, and many other great Scottish houses to whom a foreign origin was given, as this name has really an Anglo-Norman appearance; the Romance word “grams or graims” (gram, grom, Sax.), i. e., furious, fierce, angry, pas­sionate, not differing much from the surname of the first of this family who appears in charters; viz., William de Græme, A.D. 1128.

The ancestor of the Græmes of the Debatable Land was styled John with the Bright Sword. He was second son of Malise Graham, Earl of Menteith.