Makenzie
From the Scottish surname meaning "son of the fair, bright one".
Name Census estimates that about 44,243 living Americans carry the first name Makenzie. It is a predominantly female name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Makenzie today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Makenzie births was 2011 (2,218 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Makenzie. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Makenzie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Makenzie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 301 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
44K
~ 1 in 7,747 Americans
Peak year
2011
2,218 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2023 SSA rank
#641
Tracked since 1975
Census
Makenzie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 35,984 people with the first name Makenzie, which placed it at #1,129 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
#1,129
National first-name rank
People counted
36K
35,984 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
11.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Makenzie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Makenzie is White at 74.2%. The next largest groups are Black (13.2%) and Hispanic (5.7%). 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 Makenzie 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 Makenzie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.2% · 26,717
- Black or African American13.2% · 4,749
- Hispanic or Latino5.7% · 2,067
- Two or more races5.6% · 2,007
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 262
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 182
Gender
Gender distribution for Makenzie
Out of the 44,904 babies given the name Makenzie since 1880, 99.3% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Makenzie as a male name
- Ranked #13,433 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1993 (22 births)
Makenzie as a female name
- Ranked #641 in 2024
- 460 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (2,210 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Makenzie appears almost entirely female. Of the 35,977 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Makenzie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Makenzie from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 17,565 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Makenzie 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 Makenzie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Makenzies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Makenzie, while Vermont, Wyoming, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 849 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Makenzie
Makenzie is a feminine given name of Scottish origin, derived from the Gaelic surname MacKenzie, which means "son of the fair bright one." The name traces its roots back to the 13th century, when the Clan Mackenzie emerged as one of the most powerful and influential clans in the Scottish Highlands.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Makenzie as a given name dates back to the late 19th century, though it did not gain widespread popularity until the mid-20th century. One of the first notable bearers of the name was Makenzie King, a Canadian politician who served as the 10th Prime Minister of Canada from 1921 to 1930 and again from 1935 to 1948.
In the world of literature, Makenzie is the name of a character in the novel "The Curse of the Mistwraith" by Janny Wurts, published in 1992. This fantasy novel is part of the "Wars of Light and Shadow" series and follows the adventures of the young protagonist, Makenzie.
Another notable figure named Makenzie was Makenzie Vaux, an American actress and model born in 1986, known for her roles in films such as "The Grace Card" (2010) and "The Blind Side" (2009).
In the realm of sports, Makenzie Meyer is an American professional soccer player who currently plays as a midfielder for the Kansas City Current in the National Women's Soccer League. She was born in 1995 and has represented the United States at various youth national team levels.
Makenzie Lanne, born in 2000, is an Australian artistic gymnast who has represented her country in international competitions, including the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where she won a silver medal in the team event.
Throughout its history, the name Makenzie has maintained a unique and distinctive character, blending its Scottish heritage with a modern and versatile appeal. While it may have evolved in spelling and pronunciation over time, the name continues to evoke a sense of strength, resilience, and individuality.
People
Makenzie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Makenzie 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
Makenzie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Makenzie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 44,243 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Makenzie 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 7,747 US residents.
Is Makenzie a common name?
We classify Makenzie as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 44,904 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Makenzie most popular?
The single biggest year for Makenzie was 2011, when 2,218 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Makenzie 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 Makenzie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 35,984 people with the name Makenzie, or 11.91 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,129 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 Makenzie 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 Makenzie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Makenzie appears almost entirely female. Of the 35,977 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Makenzie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Makenzie is White at 74.2%. The next largest groups are Black (13.2%) and Hispanic (5.7%). 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 Makenzie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Makenzie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.2% (26,717 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 Makenzie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Makenzie a female name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Makenzie 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.
Is Makenzie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Makenzie 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 Makenzie 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 common is the name Makenzie?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.