Maclin
Son of devotion or servant of St. Moclinus.
Name Census estimates that about 414 living Americans carry the first name Maclin. It is a predominantly male name (97.4% of registrations). The average person named Maclin today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maclin births was 2018 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maclin. 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
414
~ 1 in 827,909 Americans
Peak year
2018
42 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,159
Tracked since 1996
Census
Maclin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 371 people with the first name Maclin, which placed it at #25,534 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
#25,534
National first-name rank
People counted
371
371 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maclin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maclin is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.2%) and Hispanic (8.9%). 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 Maclin 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 Maclin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.9% · 278
- Two or more races9.2% · 34
- Hispanic or Latino8.9% · 33
- Black or African American4.6% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Maclin
Maclin leans heavily male at 97.4% of total registrations, but 11 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Maclin as a male name
- Ranked #5,159 in 2024
- 19 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (42 births)
Maclin as a female name
- Ranked #17,429 in 2017
- 5 female births in 2017
- Peak: 2015 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maclin leans strongly male. 338 people counted with this name were male (91.1%), compared with 33 female bearers (8.9%).
Popularity
Maclin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maclin 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 257 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Maclin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maclin 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 Maclin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maclins live
Origin
Meaning and history of Maclin
The name Maclin is believed to have its origins in the Gaelic language spoken in the British Isles, particularly in Scotland and Ireland. It is thought to be a variant of the name Macklin, which itself is derived from the Gaelic surname Mac Lochlainn, meaning "son of the Norwegian."
This suggests that the name may have originated among families of Norse or Viking descent who settled in the Scottish Highlands or the Irish countryside during the medieval period. Some linguists also theorize that the name could be a diminutive or shortened form of names like Macculloch or Macalister, which have similar Gaelic roots.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Maclin can be found in the Scottish Clan histories from the 16th century, where it appears as a variant spelling of Macklin. During this time, the name was particularly prevalent in the regions of Argyll and the Western Isles of Scotland.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Maclin. One such figure was John Maclin (1604-1676), a Scottish clergyman and author who served as the Minister of Campsie parish in Stirlingshire. Another was Robert Maclin (1710-1784), a Scottish mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics.
In the realm of literature, the name Maclin appears in the works of Sir Walter Scott, the renowned Scottish novelist and poet. One of his lesser-known works, "The Bridal of Triermain," features a character named Maclin, likely inspired by the historical connections of the name to Scotland.
Crossing the Atlantic, one of the earliest recorded instances of the name Maclin in North America was that of William Maclin (1735-1819), a Scottish immigrant who settled in Virginia and fought in the American Revolutionary War.
Another notable figure was Samuel Maclin (1820-1901), an American educator and abolitionist who founded several schools for African American students in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction era after the Civil War.
While the name Maclin has its roots in the Gaelic cultures of the British Isles, it has since spread to various parts of the world, carried by families of Scottish, Irish, and sometimes even English descent. However, its historical origins and connections to the Highlands and the Western Isles of Scotland remain an integral part of its etymology and cultural significance.
People
Maclin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maclin 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
Maclin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maclin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 414 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maclin 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 827,909 US residents.
Is Maclin a common name?
We classify Maclin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 417 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maclin most popular?
The single biggest year for Maclin was 2018, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maclin is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maclin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 371 people with the name Maclin, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,534 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 Maclin 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 Maclin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maclin leans strongly male. 338 people counted with this name were male (91.1%), compared with 33 female bearers (8.9%). 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 Maclin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maclin is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.2%) and Hispanic (8.9%). 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 Maclin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maclin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.9% (278 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 Maclin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maclin a male name?
Yes, 97.4% of people registered as Maclin 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 Maclin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maclin 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 Maclin 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 named Maclin?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.