Grady

An Irish surname with an easy smile, Grady comes from the Gaelic O Gradaigh, descendant of Gradach, meaning noble or illustrious. It belonged to a County Clare clan before crossing the Atlantic with nineteenth-century emigration, and it began appearing as a first name in American registers only in the past three decades. The name sits in the U.S. top 400, buoyed by the broader vogue for surname-style Irish names that feel warmer than their British counterparts. Two bouncy syllables, the hard G giving way to a long A. Grady reads approachable and a bit mischievous, the kind of boy who talks to everyone.