Mckala
A modern invented name of unknown meaning or origin.
Name Census estimates that about 225 living Americans carry the first name Mckala. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mckala today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mckala births was 1997 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mckala. 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
225
~ 1 in 1,523,353 Americans
Peak year
1997
30 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2010 SSA rank
#14,455
Tracked since 1993
Census
Mckala in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 290 people with the first name Mckala, which placed it at #30,183 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
#30,183
National first-name rank
People counted
290
290 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mckala
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mckala is White at 76.9%. The next largest groups are Black (7.9%) and Two or More Races (6.2%). 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 Mckala 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 Mckala at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.9% · 223
- Black or African American7.9% · 23
- Two or more races6.2% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino5.9% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.8% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 1
Popularity
Mckala: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mckala from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 140 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mckala 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 Mckala during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mckalas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mckala
The name Mckala is a relatively modern name that does not have a long historical lineage. It appears to be a combination of the Scottish surname McKay and the English female name Kala, which itself is a shortened form of the name Michaela.
The surname McKay has its origins in the Scottish Highlands and is derived from the Gaelic words "mac" meaning "son" and "aidh" meaning "fire." It was originally a patronymic name referring to a son of a person with the name Aidh or a nickname related to fire or red hair.
The name Kala is an English variant of the name Michaela, which is derived from the Hebrew name Michael, meaning "who is like God." Michaela gained popularity in the Middle Ages as a feminine form of the name Michael, which was a commonly used name for both boys and girls during that time.
While the name Mckala itself does not have a long recorded history, there are a few notable individuals who have borne this name in more recent times. One of the earliest recorded instances is Mckala Byers, an American actress born in 1988, known for her roles in television shows and films such as "The Middle" and "The Blind Side."
Another notable Mckala is Mckala Jones, an American singer and songwriter born in 1998, who gained recognition for her appearances on the reality singing competition show "The Voice" in 2017.
Mckala Rickard is an American basketball player born in 1996, who has played for the University of Louisville and various professional teams in Europe.
Mckala Boynton is a Canadian actress born in 1990, best known for her role as Emma Stevenson in the television series "The Ron James Show."
Mckala Massey is an American artist and photographer born in 1989, whose works have been featured in various exhibitions and publications.
While the name Mckala is relatively new and does not have a long historical tradition, it has gained some popularity in recent decades, particularly in North America, as a unique and modern combination of traditional Scottish and English name elements.
People
Mckala + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mckala 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
Mckala: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mckala?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 225 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mckala 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 1,523,353 US residents.
Is Mckala a common name?
We classify Mckala as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 230 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mckala most popular?
The single biggest year for Mckala was 1997, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mckala is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mckala in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 290 people with the name Mckala, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,183 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 Mckala 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 Mckala?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mckala appears almost entirely female. Of the 287 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Mckala?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mckala is White at 76.9%. The next largest groups are Black (7.9%) and Two or More Races (6.2%). 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 Mckala most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mckala in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.9% (223 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 Mckala in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mckala a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mckala 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 Mckala still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mckala 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 Mckala 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 Mckala as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Mckala, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.