Guild of One-Name Studies
One-name studies, Genealogy
Study: Grealy
Variants: de Grailly, Grailly, Greeley, Greelie, Greyle
Category: 1 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is in its early stages.
Website: grealy.one-name.net/index.php
Guild hosted website: grealy.one-name.net
Contact: Mrs Karen Rogers
We are just getting started on our journey of discovery into the Grealy surname.
The name appears to come from County Mayo in Ireland, and appears Grealy, Greally, and Greeley . It derives from the pre 10th century Gaelic personal name O'Raghailleach, of unknown origin. The surname is first recorded in surving registers in the late 16th century, but appears to be a much older surname.
The variants discovered so far are Grealy, Greally, Grealey, but I am sure we will discover many more as the surname may be linked to Reilly.
The name originates in County Mayo Ireland, however according to https://forebears.io/surnames/grealy#meaning , its largest distribution is now in Australia, where we have been since the early part of the 19th century. In order the most common occurances are:
https://grealy.one-name.net/index.php