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Short Answer:

Yes, the television show is named after the main character (Meredith Grey) and the medical textbook (Gray’s Anatomy).

A:

The television show Grey’s Anatomy (2005 - ) follows the life of Dr. Meredith Grey (played by Ellen Pompeo) and her coworkers as she progresses from her first day as an intern at Seattle Grace Hospital to being the Chief of General Surgery. Grey is the daughter of world-renowned surgeon Ellis Grey, the half-sister to two surgeons (Dr. Lexie Grey played by Chyler Leigh and Dr. Maggie Pierce played by Kelly McCreary), and marries her surgical teacher/boss Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd (played by Patrick Dempsey).

Dr. Meredith Grey with Dr. Derek Shepherd & his perfect hair

Since the show is about surgeons, it only makes sense that it’s name is a play on the last name of the main character (Grey) and the name of the famous textbook for surgeons Gray’s Anatomy.

Dr. Henry Gray (who had pretty epic hair in his own right)

The most current edition of the textbook, which was written by Henry Gray in 1858, is the 41st edition which was published in 2015. Gray’s Anatomy is still considered to be the most comprehensive anatomy textbook in English and is therefore still widely used. Because of its wide use, the title of the book is familiar to laypeople as well as doctors, making it closely associated with—and therefore a useful identifier of—the medical industry.

Grandma using Gray’s Anatomy as a cookbook in the Addams Family (1991)

Yet a month before the first episode aired ABC announced that the show would be renamed “Complications” instead. Despite the announcement, the show premiered with the original title: Grey’s Anatomy. Ultimately, while “Complications” could indicate either medical complications or the complications faced in the surgeons’ every day lives, Grey’s Anatomy is a much better title because the show is equally about not only actual human anatomy, but the figurative anatomy of main character Meredith Grey’s life.