Shonda Rhimes knows how to create TV shows that keep us hooked. Grey’s Anatomy has been on the air for approximately ten thousand years for a reason. If real-life doctors had this much drama to cope with, they’d never make it through med school, let alone a residency program or provide care.
Our favorite thing about Grey’s Anatomy, and all medical dramas, is the power of the setting to introduce life and death to typical soap opera storylines.
Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) could have sorted out their relationship and their issues with Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) if they didn’t have to keep patients alive in the meantime.
Meredith and Derek aren’t exactly couple goals, but… I don’t think Dr. Addison Forbes (Kate Walsh) minds; she did fine. We didn’t love Private Practice, though.
Then there’s Cristina Yang, Jo, and Andrew DeLuca, too. How do we manage to keep track of these people’s lives?
Are you team McDreamy, McSteamy, or team “I forgot that was a debate”?
We’ll talk about it.
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Meredith Grey’s Age, Life, Workplace, and More
The hospital’s name is a helpful broad marker to follow Meredith Grey’s life on the show. The original name of the hospital is “Seattle Grace Hospital”; it would change twice throughout the show.
Long before she came to Seattle Grace, Meredith was born in 1978.
How Old Is Meredith Grey Early in the Show? (Seasons 1-6)
We will set the starting year for the series as 2006*, so Meredith Grey is 28 years old when she started her first year of the residency program at Seattle Grace Hospital. We’ll say 28 for the sake of the rest of this article, but there is an argument to be made for a year younger.
The hospital’s name is a helpful broad marker to follow Meredith Grey’s life on the show. The original name of the hospital is “Seattle Grace Hospital”; it would change twice throughout the show.
Late season 3 takes place in 2007, making Meredith 29 years old. It takes two more seasons of Grey’s (4 and 5) for us to reach 2008.
How Old Is Meredith Grey Later in the Series? (Seasons 6-9)
As a result of the merger with Mercy West Medical Center in season 6, the name of the Grey’s Anatomy hospital changed to Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital. The merger took place in 2009; Meredith Grey is 31 years old, according to our starting point.
If you think she was 27 at the start of the series, subtract one from our ages. Easy.
The hospital’s name wouldn’t change again until Meredith became an attending in the ninth season of Grey’s.
How Old Is Meredith Grey After the Plane Crash? (Seasons 9-Present)
THE PLANE CRASH.
Grey’s Anatomy was never the same. To honor two particular victims, Lexie and Mark, the hospital is renamed, a final time, to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Grey Sloan is a first-of-its-kind hospital owned and run by the doctors who work there.
Grey Sloan comes about in season 9, after the plane crash, in 2013. Meredith Grey was 35 years old.
How Old Is Meredith Grey Now?
The proceeding seasons each encompass between one and two years. As of season 18, the weird gap between Grey’s and the real world is pretty much closed. It’s safe to assume the year is 2022, and Meredith is 44 years old. Unless season 19 (which has been confirmed) opens to a futuristic world of 2100, the timeline of Grey’s will line up with ours.
When the show began in 2005, it was clear that the creators weren’t concerned with the detail of time. There are several contradictory pieces of evidence in the first two seasons, so take those with a grain of salt.