Last night I went to my first Community Council Meeting.
It was quite formal and was precisely "chaired" and at times I had to stifle a fit of the giggles when I was referred to by the Chairman as "Counsillor Gray"
There was a reason for this.
My Father, was always a big Councillor. He loved his committee work and was Chairman of the Council in Prestatyn for many years as well as being a bigwig at Prestatyn's Conservative Club and the local Rotary Club
The only Councillor I ever knew was Councillor G.R. Gray, my father!
It was weird hearing the "title" repeated, especially given the fact that my father died over 20 years ago
As a kid, I would never have believed that one day someone would refer to me with the same title and this in turn got me to thinking of where our "family" name will finally end up. My brother has a son called Jonathon. He is the only person that could carry our family name onwards. True I have several male cousins that will also carry the Gray line forward, but for our immediate family, only Jon will carry the flag so to speak.
I find it surprising that this bothers me . Perhaps it is a male thing? Women that marry often give up their own family name without a second thought, and for some families the family name disappears totally after the wedding.....I guess last night...I caught myself having a little bit of a rummage down memory lane , just a little after all , on a very basic level......you name does define you somewhat doesn't it?
Gray is a surname usually of Scottish origin, and may refer to many people.
Also, there are many people in Ireland with the last name "Gray" that are not of Ulster-Scots heritage. It can be an anglicized version of the native Irish Mag Raith (other versions of this Irish name are McGrath, (Mc)Grew, McGray, (Mc/O')Graigh and others). In England the name is often of Norman origin, stemming from the town of Grayes in Calvados, France.