Maclane
A Scottish masculine name derived from the Gaelic "mac" meaning "son" and "lann" meaning "landowner."
Name Census estimates that about 178 living Americans carry the first name Maclane. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Maclane today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maclane births was 2002 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maclane. 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
178
~ 1 in 1,925,586 Americans
Peak year
2002
12 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2023 SSA rank
#10,357
Tracked since 1991
Census
Maclane in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 225 people with the first name Maclane, which placed it at #35,641 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#35,641
National first-name rank
People counted
225
225 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maclane
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maclane is White at 90.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.4%) and Hispanic (2.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Maclane described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Maclane at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.7% · 204
- Two or more races4.4% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 6
- Black or African American0.9% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 1
Popularity
Maclane: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maclane 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 57 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Maclane remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maclane 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 Maclane 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 Maclane
The given name Maclane has its origins in the Scottish Gaelic language. It is a variant spelling of the name MacLaine, which is a clan surname derived from the Gaelic words "mac" meaning "son" and "laomuinn" meaning "servant of Saint John." The name can be traced back to the 13th century in the Scottish Highlands, particularly in the regions of Argyll and the Hebrides.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Maclane appears in the 14th century, when a Gillebride MacLane is mentioned in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland in the year 1369. This suggests that the name was already well-established among Scottish clans during the late medieval period.
In the 16th century, a notable figure named Maclane of Dowart was a powerful chieftain of the Clan MacLaine on the Isle of Mull. He played a significant role in the complex power struggles and conflicts that characterized the turbulent era of Scottish history.
A famous bearer of the name Maclane was Sir Lachlan Mor Maclane, who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries (c. 1570-1635). He was a renowned warrior and leader of the Clan MacLaine, known for his bravery and loyalty to the Scottish crown during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
Another notable individual with the name Maclane was Sir John Maclane (c. 1670-1753), a Scottish soldier and politician who served as the Governor of Dunkirk and later as a Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons.
In the literary realm, the name Maclane is associated with Alasdair Maclane (1828-1892), a Scottish poet and writer known for his contributions to the Gaelic literary renaissance of the 19th century. His works celebrated Scottish Highland culture and traditions.
While the name Maclane has its roots in Scotland, it has also been adopted in various parts of the world, particularly in regions with Scottish diaspora communities. However, its historical significance and cultural associations remain firmly rooted in the Scottish Highlands and the legacy of the Clan MacLaine.
People
Maclane + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maclane 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
Maclane: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maclane?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 178 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maclane 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 1,925,586 US residents.
Is Maclane a common name?
We classify Maclane as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 180 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maclane most popular?
The single biggest year for Maclane was 2002, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maclane is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maclane in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 225 people with the name Maclane, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,641 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Maclane in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Maclane?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maclane leans strongly male. 199 people counted with this name were male (87.7%), compared with 28 female bearers (12.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Maclane?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maclane is White at 90.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.4%) and Hispanic (2.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Maclane most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maclane in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.7% (204 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Maclane in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maclane a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maclane 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.
Is Maclane still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maclane in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Maclane can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people are called Maclane?
Find out how many Americans are named Maclane on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.