Is Graham Scottish or Irish?

Graham is both an English and Scottish surname. It is a habitational name, derived from Grantham in Lincolnshire, England. The Scottish Grahams traditionally claimed descent from a chief called Grame, but the first authentic bearer of the name was William of Graham (a Norman) in the twelfth century.

Scottish History OF THE GRAHAM FAMILY

The name Graham rings like a clarion trumpet call down through the colourful pageant of Scottish history. Their courageous allegiance to the royal house of Scotland through thick and thin gave them a reputation for loyalty that has stood the test of time (despite the fact that one of them, Sir Robert Graham, slew James I at the Blackfriars Royal Lodge in Perth in 1437 in the belief that a regal dictatorship was being imposed). One colourful tradition relates how Greme was a mighty Caledonian warrior who broke the Antonine Wall and helped drive the Romans out of Scotland, the breach in the defences ever after being known as Graeme's Dyke. But it is much more likely that the family actually came over with William the Conqueror in the eleventh century and is Anglo-Norman in origin. A Manor of Gregham or Greyhome is recorded in the Conqueror's Domesday Book. When King David I came to Scotland to claim his throne, a Graham was among the knights who accompanied him; while Sir William de Graham was present at the building of the Abbey of Holyrood and witnessed its foundation charter.

The Grahams fought staunchly alongside both Wallace and Bruce during the long struggle for Scottish independence and were suitably rewarded, the first lands the family acquired being around Dalkeith in Midlothian. The Grahams' acceptance in Celtic Scotland was assured when they married into the princely family of Strathearn; and from Malise of Strathearn they acquired the lands around Auchterarder that were to become their principal seat. Sir John de Graham was a legendary warrior among Wallace's followers and was known as 'Graham with the bright sword'. He fell, fighting to the last, at the battle of Falkirk in 1298 and his gravestone and effigy can still be found in the local kirkyard near the battle site. The family's lands and power gradually grew and they acquired an estate at Mugdock, north of Glasgow, where they built an imposing castle in 1370. Patrick Graham of Kincardine was created a peer in 1451 with the title of Lord Graham; and two generations later they were created Earls of Montrose. The first Earl fell at the bloodsoaked massacre of Flodden in 1513: but by means of purchase, inheritance and inter-marriage, the Graham lands had become, by the late seventeenth century, among the richest in Scotland.