Mckenley
Of Scottish origin, a masculine name with uncertain meaning, possibly related to "handsome."
Name Census estimates that about 326 living Americans carry the first name Mckenley. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Mckenley today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mckenley births was 2010 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mckenley. 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
326
~ 1 in 1,051,394 Americans
Peak year
2010
41 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2010 SSA rank
#11,705
Tracked since 1920
Census
Mckenley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 389 people with the first name Mckenley, which placed it at #24,672 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
#24,672
National first-name rank
People counted
389
389 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mckenley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mckenley is White at 64.8%. The next largest groups are Black (25.2%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Mckenley 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 Mckenley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.8% · 252
- Black or African American25.2% · 98
- Two or more races4.6% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Mckenley
Mckenley leans heavily female at 88.0% of total registrations, but 41 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mckenley as a male name
- Ranked #11,705 in 2010
- 6 male births in 2010
- Peak: 1998 (7 births)
Mckenley as a female name
- Ranked #12,955 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2010 (35 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mckenley on both sides of the split. Of the 386 people counted with this name, 112 were male (29.0%) and 274 were female (71.0%).
Popularity
Mckenley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mckenley from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 188 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mckenley 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 Mckenley 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 Mckenley
The given name Mckenley is a relatively modern name with an obscure origin. It is believed to have emerged as a combination of the Scottish surname McKenzie and the English surname Kenley, both of which have their roots in different geographical locations.
The first part of the name, "Mc," is a common prefix used in Scottish surnames, derived from the Gaelic word "mac," meaning "son." The "Kenzie" portion is thought to have originated from the Scottish Gaelic name "Coinneach," which itself comes from the word "coning," meaning "handsome" or "bright."
The second part of the name, "Kenley," is an English surname that likely originated as a locational name from the village of Kenley in Surrey, England. The name Kenley is derived from the Old English words "cyne" meaning "royal" and "leah" meaning "woodland clearing."
While the name Mckenley does not appear to have any direct historical references or mentions in ancient texts or religious scriptures, there are a few notable individuals who have borne this name throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Mckenley is Mckenley Farnsworth (1897-1972), an American businessman and entrepreneur who founded the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation in the 1920s.
Another notable individual with the name Mckenley was Mckenley Johnson (1920-1998), an American civil rights activist and lawyer who played a significant role in the legal battles against racial segregation in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s.
In the field of sports, Mckenley Stallworth (born 1964) was a professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for several teams, including the Los Angeles Clippers and the Boston Celtics, during the 1980s and 1990s.
Mckenley Cartwright (1927-2011) was a British actor and playwright who appeared in numerous television shows and films throughout his career, including the popular sitcom "Dad's Army" in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Finally, Mckenley Griffith (1932-2019) was a Canadian painter and artist known for his abstract expressionist works, which were widely exhibited in galleries across Canada and internationally.
While the name Mckenley may not have a long and storied history, it has been borne by individuals who have made significant contributions in various fields, ranging from business and civil rights to sports and the arts.
People
Mckenley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mckenley 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
Mckenley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mckenley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 326 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mckenley 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 1,051,394 US residents.
Is Mckenley a common name?
We classify Mckenley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 341 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mckenley most popular?
The single biggest year for Mckenley was 2010, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mckenley is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mckenley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 389 people with the name Mckenley, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,672 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 Mckenley 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 Mckenley?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mckenley on both sides of the split. Of the 386 people counted with this name, 112 were male (29.0%) and 274 were female (71.0%). 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 Mckenley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mckenley is White at 64.8%. The next largest groups are Black (25.2%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Mckenley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mckenley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.8% (252 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 Mckenley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mckenley a female name?
Yes, 88.0% of people registered as Mckenley 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 Mckenley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mckenley 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 Mckenley 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 share the name Mckenley?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.