Mckaylee
A feminine name possibly derived from the Scottish surname McKay, meaning "son of fire".
Name Census estimates that about 572 living Americans carry the first name Mckaylee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mckaylee today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mckaylee births was 2007 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mckaylee. 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
572
~ 1 in 599,221 Americans
Peak year
2007
31 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2023 SSA rank
#9,392
Tracked since 1992
Census
Mckaylee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 487 people with the first name Mckaylee, which placed it at #20,996 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
#20,996
National first-name rank
People counted
487
487 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mckaylee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mckaylee is White at 78.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.2%) 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 Mckaylee 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 Mckaylee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.4% · 382
- Hispanic or Latino9.2% · 45
- Two or more races6.2% · 30
- Black or African American3.5% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 5
Popularity
Mckaylee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mckaylee from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 245 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
Mckaylee 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 Mckaylee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mckaylees live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mckaylee
The name Mckaylee is a modern English given name with no ancient historical roots. It appears to be a more recent invented name, likely derived from the combination of the Scottish surname McKay and the popular English name Kaylee.
The surname McKay is a Scottish patronymic name meaning "son of the bright one" or "son of the fire". It originated from the Gaelic name Mac Aidh, with "mac" meaning "son" and "aidh" meaning "fire" or "brightness". The name Kaylee, on the other hand, is thought to be a modern variation of the English name Kayley or Kayleigh, which may have originated from the Gaelic name Cailín meaning "young woman" or "girl".
There are no known historical references or ancient texts mentioning the name Mckaylee specifically, as it appears to be a relatively new name creation. The earliest recorded examples of the name Mckaylee are likely from the late 20th or early 21st century, coinciding with the trend of creating unique and unconventional baby names.
While the name Mckaylee itself may not have a long historical lineage, there have been a few notable individuals throughout history who share similar names or name components:
1. Sorley Boy MacDonnell (c. 1505 - 1590), a Scottish-Irish prince and gallowglass leader known for his military exploits in Ireland.
2. John McKay (1733 - 1809), a Scottish-born American Presbyterian minister and president of Bowdoin College in Maine.
3. Kaylee DeFer (born 1986), an American actress known for her roles in films like "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and TV shows like "Gossip Girl".
4. Kaylee Frye, a fictional character in the science fiction series "Firefly" and its spin-off film "Serenity", played by actress Jewel Staite.
5. McKayla Maroney (born 1995), an American former artistic gymnast and Olympic medalist.
It's important to note that while these individuals share similar name components or spellings, their names have different origins and meanings compared to the modern given name Mckaylee. The name Mckaylee is a more recent combination of elements, likely reflecting contemporary naming trends and personal preferences.
People
Mckaylee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mckaylee 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
Mckaylee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mckaylee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 572 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mckaylee 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 599,221 US residents.
Is Mckaylee a common name?
We classify Mckaylee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 581 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mckaylee most popular?
The single biggest year for Mckaylee was 2007, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mckaylee 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 Mckaylee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 487 people with the name Mckaylee, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,996 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 Mckaylee 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 Mckaylee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mckaylee appears almost entirely female. Of the 482 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Mckaylee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mckaylee is White at 78.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.2%) 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 Mckaylee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mckaylee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.4% (382 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 Mckaylee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mckaylee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mckaylee 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 Mckaylee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mckaylee 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 Mckaylee 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 are named Mckaylee?
See how many people have the name Mckaylee on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.