Mackay
Son of fire; of Gaelic origin, meaning "son of the bright one".
Name Census estimates that about 293 living Americans carry the first name Mackay. It is a predominantly male name (92.9% of registrations). The average person named Mackay today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mackay births was 1996 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mackay. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
293
~ 1 in 1,169,810 Americans
Peak year
1996
14 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,499
Tracked since 1991
Gender
Gender distribution for Mackay
Mackay leans heavily male at 92.9% of total registrations, but 21 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mackay as a male name
- Ranked #9,499 in 2024
- 8 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (13 births)
Mackay as a female name
- Ranked #19,369 in 2007
- 5 female births in 2007
- Peak: 1996 (6 births)
Popularity
Mackay: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mackay from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 107 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Mackay remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mackay by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Mackay during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mackays live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mackay
The name Mackay is of Scottish origin, derived from the Gaelic Mac Aoidh, which means "son of fire" or "son of Hugh." It is believed to have emerged in the 12th century in the Western Isles of Scotland, particularly on the Isle of Islay.
The name is thought to be associated with the Clan Mackay, a Highland Scottish clan whose ancestral lands were located in the far north of the Scottish mainland, in the counties of Caithness and Sutherland. The Clan Mackay played a significant role in the history of Scotland, with members participating in various battles and conflicts.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mackay can be found in the Annals of Ulster, an ancient Irish chronicle that mentions a man named Mackay in the year 1211. The name also appears in various Scottish historical records and documents from the 13th and 14th centuries.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Mackay. One of the most famous was Æneas Mackay (1635-1696), a Scottish soldier and military commander who served in the Scottish and Russian armies. He is particularly renowned for his role in the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689, where he fought against the Jacobite forces.
Another prominent figure was Robert Mackay (1840-1916), a Scottish-American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th Governor of Virginia from 1894 to 1898. He played a crucial role in the development of the state's infrastructure and education system.
John Mackay (1805-1889) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist who made a fortune in the Comstock Lode silver mines in Nevada. He was instrumental in the development of the mining industry in the American West and donated generously to various educational and charitable causes.
Clarence Mackay (1874-1938) was an American businessman, financier, and philanthropist. He inherited a significant fortune from his father, John Mackay, and was actively involved in various business ventures, including the Postal Telegraph-Cable Company and the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company.
Lastly, Charles Mackay (1814-1889) was a Scottish poet, journalist, and author best known for his work "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds," which explored the psychology of crowd behavior and the phenomena of financial bubbles and economic crises.
People
Mackay + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mackay as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mackay: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mackay?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 293 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mackay going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,169,810 US residents.
Is Mackay a common name?
We classify Mackay as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 297 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mackay most popular?
The single biggest year for Mackay was 1996, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mackay is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Mackay a male name?
Yes, 92.9% of people registered as Mackay in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.