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Brady (surname)

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The name Brady in Ireland is derived from the Irish name Mac Bradaigh meaning 'spirited'. So the anglicised form should be MacBrady, the prefix Mac, however, has seldom if ever been used in modern times; the modern use of the prefix O instead of Mac with this name is erroneous. This Sept was based in County Cavan. A County Clare branch of the O'Gradaigh (O'Grady) Sept changed their name to Brady in the sixteenth century to identify themselves with the English cause.

In a listing of the Most Common U.S. Surnames Brady ranked at #488.

Spelling variations include: Braidy, Bradie, Braidie, Braydy, Braydie, Bradigan, O'Bradigan, O'Brady, Grady, Graidy, Gradie, Graidie, Graydy, Graydie, O'Grady and many more.

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Brady History

The original Irish name for Brady was MacBrady and they were a powerful sept belonging to Breffny, their chief holding sway over a territory lying a few miles east of Cavan town, in the barony of Loughter Upper. The Four Masters record many illustrious chiefs of the name there. The historian Abbe MacGeoghegan says that the MacBradys are a branch of the O'Carrolls of Calry, County Leitrim, a statement which has been often repeated, but modern authorities refute this. In any case they have always been prominently associated with County Cavan; and it is in County Cavan and adjacent areas the Bradys are mostly found today. They are indeed very numerous in Ireland with an estimated population of nearly 10,000 persons so called. Brady is among the sixty most common names in Ireland, among the forty most common in Ulster, among the twenty most common in Monaghan and ranks third in County Cavan, the homeland of the sept. The 1890 census figures show the name in significant numbers in County Dublin, County Antrim, County Meath and County Longford.

A number of families of Brady are also to be found in the district around the village of Tuamgraney, County Clare. These are in fact not truly Bradys at all but O'Gradys, of the same family as O'Grady of Kilballyowen, County Limerick: from the time of Henry VIII onwards these O'Gradys identified themselves with the English cause: for that reason, perhaps, they adopted the form Brady instead of Grady. The first Protestant Bishop of Meath and Kildare, for example, was Hugh Brady, a Clareman, son of Donough O'Grady. The Limerick branch, on the other hand, having been Brady for a generation or two, reverted to the correct form O'Grady.

source: [1]

Heraldry

The Chief Herald of Ireland records the ancient sept arms of MacBrady

Sable, in the sinister base a dexter hand couped at the wrist proper pointing with the index finger at a sun in splendour in dexter chief or.

No crest or motto is recorded, but in 1766, the arms of James Bernard MacBrady, Count of the Holy Roman Empire were recorded as above with the addition of a crest "a cherub proper the wings or" and the motto "claritate dextra" (which roughly means, the right hand is clear). This crest and motto appears in the arms of at least four other Bradys - sufficiently numerous to be regarded as traditional sept symbols along with the shield.

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