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]

(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.