Hmmm. It’s tough to type. When I say it there are not quite two full syllables, but the second “a” is there. The Virginia accent helps it out.
It’s like saying “Grey” and then using an “m” to close your mouth. It’s not quite “grame” though either its more like a “Gray-um” where the “u” is silent.
OK, I give up, there’s just no way to type it.
Don’t think this has been mentioned, but in the Southern US, some words pronounced as one syllable by Northerners tend to be strung out into two syllables. One quick example: HAIR, pronounced as hare by me, but hay-ur by my cousins from Southern VA. Maybe the confusion here is along those lines:
(Northern) Gram
(Southern) Gray-um
And both think they’re saying the word the same way.
I’m from the south of England, Graham is one of my family names from the Scottish side - we say Grayum.
I was going to ETA to say something like this. Sometimes it’s an “ay,” but sometimes it’s an “ae.” Or somewhere in between. But always with a schwa following.
Were many Scotsmen knighted, way back when?
Gray-im here, also. Both the name and the cracker. I can thank, or blame, my Scotland-born grandfather for that one. I also tend to say say-er-gent for the military rank after hearing all his stories about being a say-er-gent in the army. 
Oh, for the Love of Pete, Kiss Her & let us get some sleep…! 
“Gram” is what I call the cracker. I pronounce the name however the owner prefers - gram, gray ham, gray um, featheringstone on bonham, whatever.
His off the boat ancestors didn’t.
bolding added
see post #21
So I’ve been sitting here thinking “Gray-yam. Gram. Gra-ham. Grayum.” It’s my son’s name and I should really know how i pronounce it.
I think GreenElf comes closest to how I do.
Well, I asked the Kiwi to confirm, and he confirms he pronounces his name “gram” and that it’s common where he’s from. However, he does spell it Graeme, so maybe there’s the difference?
It’s sorta two syllables (more like a diphthong), but so is every other time I put the /æ/ sound in front of /m/ or /n/. Graham is [gɹeəm], just like man is [meən].
It’s just the basic vowel tensing towards nasals that happens in a lot of dialects, not anything to do with the spelling. Southerners tend to add the y sound [ejə], which makes it sound even more like two syllables. (Think the accent by Forrest Gump.)
If I didn’t know about it, I’d think I was saying [gɹæm], because I do pronounce it exactly the same way as the word “gram.” The only slight difference might be in elongating the vowel, which, of course, makes it seem more like two syllables.
When I was a kid (and probably now, too, I suppose), a lot of people thought I was from another country. If I pronounced “Graham” any other way than “Gram,” they would definitely think I’m not A Murrican.
I think if I run into someone with this name, I’ll stick with “Hey, you.”
That does not seem to happen around here, we tend to drop our vowels right straight into the n’s and m’s that follow them. However, I think there often is the effect you describe happening to Ls that follow some vowel sounds. Words like “pale”, “feel”, “sail” and “cruel” are about one and a third syllables long, with an upward or downward glide into the L. It depends on the vowel, though, “bell”, “wool” or “mall” are single-syllable.
I think I pronounce “Graham” different ways and inconsistently.
Gra-am
Gray-am
Gram
Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam
Whatever.
I pronounce it ‘gram’.
Gram. Michigan and Illinois. And it was “Graham as in Graham Crackers”, except they don’t have Graham Crackers here, except in the American Shop
Brit here (with a Mother from Scotland, as that is apparently important). This thread is the very first time in my life that I have heard of a ‘Gram’ pronunciation. If I think really hard about Scottish pronunciation, I can see that it sounds like the syllable divide isn’t as pronounced as in many English accents, but it is most definitely still there.