Wray Family Crest, Coat of Arms & Wray Name Origin

Get Free Updates about Family Crests, New Information, Stories, Special Offers and more with our Occasional Newsletter Updates

* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name *

Last Name

Origin of the Name Wray

The ancient history of the name Wray was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. The name Wray is usually of English origin and is of locational origin, being derived from several places named Wra, Wroe, Wray, Wrea, or Wreay, especially in the northern part of England. This name is derived from an old Norse word meaning 'a corner' or 'a nook', indicating a remote valley or an isolated place. Over the centuries names were changed according to how they sounded and were pronounced with the same name often being both spelled and pronounced differently in neighbouring towns and cities. Wray can also be a variant of the names Rea and McCrea that are more usually anglicized forms of the Gaelic MacCraith sept found in Ulster. When Gaelic names were anglicized during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries they were often changed to Anglo equivalents that sounded most like their original Gaelic name.