Grant

Variations – Grand
Racial Origin – Scottish, also Anglo-Norman
Source – A locality; also a characteristic

The most obvious explanation of the name of Grant is that it is a variation of Grand or “le Grand,” originating as a sobriquet denoting superiority or seniority in Norman-French days, and later becoming a family name in the natural growth of such nicknames.

More often, however, it is traceable to a Highland Scottish sources the name of one of the clans which developed from the ancient Clan Aplin, of which group the MacGregors were the leaders.

The name of the Clan Grant is Gaelic, not Norman, and as sometimes has happened with the Scottish Gaelic names, but virtually never with the Irish. It is derived from the name of a place. This place was an extensive moorland near Strathspey known as “Griantach” or “Silabh-Griannal.”

The clan itself traces back in its chieftainship to Gregor Mor MacGregor, who, it is claimed, settled in that section about the twelfth century.