This interesting surname of Scottish origin is a patronymic of Grieve, an occupational name for a steward or manager, deriving from the middle English "greve", old English pre 7th Century "groefa". The surname dates back to the late 14th Century (see below). Further recordings include one Robert Greveson (1498) "The Register of the Freemen of the city of York". Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Greves, Grieveson, Greavison, Greson, Greeson, etc., church records include Alice Gresson who was christened at St. Bartholomew the Less, London on November 19th 1644. Katherin Ward married Thomas Grason at St. Benet's, Paul's Wharf London on January 5th 1648, and George Greason who married Ann Henderson in Abberwich, Northumberland, on July 19th 1720. Mary Grason married Job Blaney at St. Pancras, Old Church, London on January 20th 1758. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Emma Grefeson, which was dated 1379, in the "Poll Tax Records of Yorkshire", during the reign of King Robert 11, of Scotland, 1371 - 1390. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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