Mcgregor
Son of a young man or husbandman with a good grip.
Name Census estimates that about 101 living Americans carry the first name Mcgregor. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mcgregor today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mcgregor births was 2017 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mcgregor. 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
101
~ 1 in 3,393,607 Americans
Peak year
2017
9 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2022 SSA rank
#8,744
Tracked since 1983
Census
Mcgregor in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 199 people with the first name Mcgregor, which placed it at #38,518 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
#38,518
National first-name rank
People counted
199
199 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mcgregor
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mcgregor is White at 70.4%. The next largest groups are Black (19.6%) and Hispanic (3.5%). 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 Mcgregor 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 Mcgregor at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.4% · 140
- Black or African American19.6% · 39
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 7
- Two or more races3.5% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 6
Popularity
Mcgregor: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mcgregor from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 37 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Mcgregor remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mcgregor 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 Mcgregor 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 Mcgregor
The name Mcgregor is a Scottish surname that has also been adopted as a first name. It originated from the Gaelic words "mac" meaning "son" and "greigair" meaning "watchman" or "descendent of Gregor". The name Mcgregor can be traced back to the Clan Gregor, a Scottish clan from the Highlands region.
In the Middle Ages, the Clan Gregor was a powerful and influential clan, known for their fierce warriors and allegiance to the Scottish crown. The name Mcgregor was closely associated with this clan, and it became a symbol of strength and bravery.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mcgregor dates back to the 14th century, when a member of the clan, Ian Mcgregor, was mentioned in Scottish historical records. He was a prominent figure in the battles between the Scottish and English forces during the Wars of Scottish Independence.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Mcgregor. One of the most famous was Rob Roy Mcgregor (1671-1734), a Scottish folk hero and outlaw who fought against the oppressive policies of the English government in the early 18th century. His exploits were later immortalized in the novel "Rob Roy" by Sir Walter Scott.
Another notable Mcgregor was Sir Evan John Mcgregor (1786-1834), a British military officer who served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. He was known for his bravery and leadership on the battlefield.
In the 19th century, John Mcgregor (1834-1900) was a Scottish botanist and explorer who made significant contributions to the field of plant taxonomy. He is best known for his extensive collections of plant specimens from the Indian subcontinent.
More recently, Ewan Mcgregor (born 1971) is a Scottish actor who has gained international acclaim for his roles in films such as "Trainspotting," "Moulin Rouge!," and the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy.
Conor Mcgregor (born 1988) is an Irish professional mixed martial artist and boxer. He is considered one of the greatest fighters in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and has held titles in multiple weight classes.
People
Mcgregor + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mcgregor 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
Mcgregor: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mcgregor?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 101 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mcgregor 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 3,393,607 US residents.
Is Mcgregor a common name?
We classify Mcgregor as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 103 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mcgregor most popular?
The single biggest year for Mcgregor was 2017, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mcgregor is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mcgregor in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 199 people with the name Mcgregor, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,518 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 Mcgregor 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 Mcgregor?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mcgregor leans strongly male. 184 people counted with this name were male (94.4%), compared with 11 female bearers (5.6%). 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 Mcgregor?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mcgregor is White at 70.4%. The next largest groups are Black (19.6%) and Hispanic (3.5%). 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 Mcgregor most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mcgregor in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.4% (140 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 Mcgregor in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mcgregor a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mcgregor 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 Mcgregor still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mcgregor 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 Mcgregor 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 have the name Mcgregor?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.