Grigg
Usually a surname from the medieval given name Gregory, with Grigg representing a shortened, familiar form.
The #7,038 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 64,903 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Grigg is generally understood as a reduced form of the medieval personal name Gregory, ultimately from Greek Gregōrios via Latin Gregorius, meaning roughly “watchful” or “vigilant.” In English surname use, it functions as a patronymic or nickname surname, developed from a familiar form of the given name rather than from a place or trade. The historical sources also link it with related spellings such as Gregg, Greggs, Gregson, and Griggs.
History
The surname appears in English records in several regional spellings, and one of the historical sources notes that Grigg was especially common in the south while Gregg was more frequent in the north. The name belongs to the wider family of surnames formed from Gregory, which became popular in medieval England through the cult of St Gregory. In later centuries it remained well established in Britain and carried over to North America.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century surname writer explicitly grouped Grigg with the many English surnames descended from Gregory, showing how productive that given name was as a surname source.
From the historical record
“Speaking generally, and judging by registers, Grigg was popular in the south, and Gregg in the north. \m (without iBiBame), co. Snff..”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances