Mackinley
Scottish surname origin meaning "handsome person" or "attractive person".
Name Census estimates that about 765 living Americans carry the first name Mackinley. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 54.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Mackinley today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mackinley births was 2012 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mackinley. 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
765
~ 1 in 448,045 Americans
Peak year
2012
37 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,490
Tracked since 1992
Gender
Gender distribution for Mackinley
Mackinley is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 774 total registrations, 356 (46.0%) were male and 418 (54.0%) were female.
Mackinley as a male name
- Ranked #10,490 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (23 births)
Mackinley as a female name
- Ranked #10,725 in 2024
- 9 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (28 births)
Popularity
Mackinley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mackinley from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 282 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Mackinley remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mackinley 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 Mackinley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mackinley
Mackinley is a given name of Scottish origin, derived from the Gaelic words "mac" meaning "son" and "fionnlagh" meaning "fair-haired stranger" or "blonde warrior." The name likely originated in the late medieval period, around the 13th or 14th century, when Gaelic names were commonly used in Scotland.
The name Mackinley is closely linked to the Scottish clan of Mackinnon, which traces its roots back to the islands of Mull and Skye in the Hebrides. The Mackinnon clan was known for its fierce warriors and seafaring traditions, and the name Mackinley may have been used to denote a fair-haired or blonde member of the clan.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mackinley can be found in the 16th century, when a man named Mackinley of Strathardle is mentioned in the Scottish historical records. However, the name remained relatively uncommon until the 19th century, when it began to gain popularity as a given name.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Mackinley. One of the most prominent was William McKinley (1843-1901), the 25th President of the United States, whose surname is derived from the same Scottish roots as the given name Mackinley. Another notable figure was Sir Alexander Mackinnon (1865-1942), a Scottish politician and diplomat who served as the Governor of the Straits Settlements (now part of Malaysia) from 1904 to 1910.
In the world of literature, Mackinley Kantor (1904-1977) was an American novelist and screenwriter who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1956 for his novel "Andersonville." In the realm of science, Mackinley Helm (1896-1963) was an American chemist who made significant contributions to the field of organic chemistry and the development of synthetic rubber during World War II.
Additionally, Mackinley Browne (1868-1941) was a Canadian politician and lawyer who served as the Attorney General of British Columbia from 1926 to 1928, while Mackinley Helmick (1888-1973) was an American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Helmick Corporation, a successful construction company in West Virginia.
People
Mackinley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mackinley 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
Mackinley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mackinley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 765 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mackinley 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 448,045 US residents.
Is Mackinley a common name?
We classify Mackinley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 774 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mackinley most popular?
The single biggest year for Mackinley was 2012, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mackinley is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Mackinley a female name?
Yes, 54.0% of people registered as Mackinley in the SSA data are female. 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.