Makinsley
An English feminine name derived from Macken meaning "son of fire".
Name Census estimates that about 191 living Americans carry the first name Makinsley. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Makinsley today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Makinsley births was 2014 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Makinsley. 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
191
~ 1 in 1,794,525 Americans
Peak year
2014
21 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,728
Tracked since 2009
Popularity
Makinsley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Makinsley from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 121 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Makinsley remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Makinsley 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 Makinsley 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 Makinsley
The name Makinsley is a relatively modern invention, with no known ancient or medieval origins. It appears to be a combination of the Scottish surname Mackenzie and the English suffix "-ley" which denotes a meadow or clearing. As such, it is likely an entirely new coinage from the late 20th or early 21st century.
There are no known historical references or famous individuals from earlier eras who bore this name. The first recorded examples appear to be from the late 1990s and early 2000s as an alternative spelling of the more common Mackenzie or Makenzie. It gained popularity as a feminine given name in the United States and other English-speaking countries during this period.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Makinsley is Makinsley Rae Diaz, born in 2003 in Texas. She was the daughter of reality television personalities Jenni Farley and Roger Mathews, who rose to fame on the MTV series Jersey Shore. Another early bearer of the name was Makinsley Ann Westcott, born in 2005 in Tennessee.
In 2009, a girl named Makinsley Grace Wethington was born in Kentucky, gaining some media attention as one of the first children to undergo a successful heart transplant surgery at a very young age. A few years later, in 2012, Makinsley Kate Browne was born in Arizona and became a minor social media influencer, with her parents sharing updates about her life online.
One of the most notable individuals with the name Makinsley is Makinsley Kane-Omaner, born in 2015 in California. She is the daughter of actress Tia Mowry-Hardrict and her husband, actor Cory Hardrict. Her unique name has been featured in various entertainment news articles and blogs.
While the name Makinsley is still relatively uncommon, it appears to be growing in popularity as a feminine given name in recent years, likely due to its unique sound and blend of Scottish and English influences.
People
Makinsley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Makinsley 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
Makinsley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Makinsley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 191 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Makinsley 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 1,794,525 US residents.
Is Makinsley a common name?
We classify Makinsley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 192 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Makinsley most popular?
The single biggest year for Makinsley was 2014, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Makinsley is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Makinsley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Makinsley a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Makinsley 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 Makinsley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Makinsley 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 Makinsley 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have Makinsley as a first name?
See how many people share the name Makinsley on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.