Mcclain
Anglicized form of Scottish surname meaning "son of the servant".
Name Census estimates that about 532 living Americans carry the first name Mcclain. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Mcclain today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mcclain births was 2023 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mcclain. 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
532
~ 1 in 644,275 Americans
Peak year
2023
28 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,567
Tracked since 1918
Census
Mcclain in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 559 people with the first name Mcclain, which placed it at #19,094 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
#19,094
National first-name rank
People counted
559
559 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mcclain
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mcclain is White at 83.5%. The next largest groups are Black (7.3%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Mcclain 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 Mcclain at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.5% · 467
- Black or African American7.3% · 41
- Two or more races3.9% · 22
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Mcclain
Mcclain leans heavily male at 84.9% of total registrations, but 84 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mcclain as a male name
- Ranked #5,567 in 2024
- 17 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (21 births)
Mcclain as a female name
- Ranked #11,743 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mcclain on both sides of the split. Of the 569 people counted with this name, 419 were male (73.6%) and 150 were female (26.4%).
Popularity
Mcclain: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mcclain from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 148 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mcclain 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 Mcclain 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 Mcclain
The given name Mcclain has its origins in the Scottish Gaelic language, stemming from the clan name MacLean, which is derived from the Gaelic words 'mac' meaning son, and 'laomuinn' meaning servant or follower of Saint John. The name gained prominence in the medieval era, particularly in the western regions of Scotland, where the MacLean clan held significant influence and territory.
The earliest recorded instances of the name can be traced back to the 13th century, where members of the MacLean clan were mentioned in Scottish historical records and charters. One notable figure from this period was Gillean of the Battlered, a renowned warrior and chieftain of the MacLean clan, who played a pivotal role in the clan's conflicts and power struggles during the 13th century.
As the name spread beyond Scotland, it underwent various spellings and adaptations, including McClain, MacClain, and the anglicized version, McClane. Notably, the name appears in the ancient Gaelic manuscript, the Book of Deer, which dates back to the 9th or 10th century, indicating its long-standing presence in Scottish culture and history.
Throughout history, several individuals bearing the name Mcclain have left their mark across various fields. Alney Mcclain (1853-1932), an American politician and lawyer, served as a U.S. Representative from Mississippi. Wilbur McClain (1890-1949), an American academic and legal scholar, made significant contributions to the field of tort law and served as the dean of the University of Arkansas School of Law.
In the realm of sports, Gene McClain (1937-2008) was an American professional baseball player who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds in the 1960s. Melvin McClain (born 1962) is a former professional basketball player who played in the NBA for teams like the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Clippers in the 1980s and 1990s.
The name also has a notable presence in the arts, with Barrie Mcclain (1935-2015), an American actress known for her roles in films and television shows like "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" and "Cheers." Additionally, Mcclain has been a popular middle name, as seen in the case of the renowned American writer and journalist, William Mcclain Kennedy (1928-2016).
People
Mcclain + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mcclain 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
Mcclain: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mcclain?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 532 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mcclain 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 644,275 US residents.
Is Mcclain a common name?
We classify Mcclain as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 558 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mcclain most popular?
The single biggest year for Mcclain was 2023, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mcclain 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 Mcclain in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 559 people with the name Mcclain, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,094 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 Mcclain 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 Mcclain?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mcclain on both sides of the split. Of the 569 people counted with this name, 419 were male (73.6%) and 150 were female (26.4%). 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 Mcclain?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mcclain is White at 83.5%. The next largest groups are Black (7.3%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Mcclain most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mcclain in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.5% (467 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 Mcclain in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mcclain a male name?
Yes, 84.9% of people registered as Mcclain 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 Mcclain still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mcclain 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 Mcclain 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 Mcclain?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Mcclain on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.