O'Grady family


The O'Grady family, also styled O'Grady of Kilballyowen, is one of Ireland's noble families and surviving Chiefs of the Name. Their title is The O'Grady in English and Ó Grádaigh in Irish. The current Chief of the Name is Jonathan O'Grady, The O'Grady, who resides in Clare, Ireland.

Naming conventions

MaleDaughterWife 'Wife '
Ó GrádaighNí GhrádaighBean Uí GhrádaighUí Ghrádaigh
Ó GrádaNí GhrádaBean Uí GhrádaUí Ghráda

History

They belong to the Dál gCais kindred and are distant cousins to the O'Brien dynasty, but have since the Middle Ages been based not in County Clare, from where they originated, but in County Limerick. The seat of the family, Kilballyowen, is near the town of Bruff.
The name Standish was often used by the family; it derives from the marriage in 1633 of Darby O'Grady, The O'Grady, to Faith Standish.
Some of the O'Grady family converted to the Church of Ireland and produced a Bishop of Meath, Hugh Brady. The family also produced some prominent historians such as Standish Hayes O'Grady and Standish James O'Grady.
The now extinct title in the peerage of Ireland, the Viscount Guillamore, was held by the family.