Mckensie
A name of Scottish origin meaning "son of Kenneth" or "fair one".
Name Census estimates that about 750 living Americans carry the first name Mckensie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mckensie today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mckensie births was 1997 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mckensie. 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
750
~ 1 in 457,006 Americans
Peak year
1997
48 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2023 SSA rank
#16,771
Tracked since 1981
Popularity
Mckensie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mckensie from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 325 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
Mckensie 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 Mckensie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mckensies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, Utah, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Mckensie, while Washington, North Carolina, Utah recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mckensie
The name Mckensie is a Scottish surname that originated as a locational name referring to someone from the lands of Kenzie or Mackenzie in Ross-shire, Scotland. It is derived from the Gaelic words "mac" meaning "son" and "cionnaidh" meaning "comely" or "handsome."
The earliest recorded use of the name Mckensie dates back to the 13th century, with references to a clan of that name in the Scottish Highlands. The Mackenzies were a prominent clan in the region and played an important role in Scottish history, particularly during the Wars of Scottish Independence.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Kenneth Mackenzie, who lived in the 13th century and is considered the progenitor of the Mackenzie clan. Other notable figures in Scottish history with the name Mckensie include Colin Mackenzie (1677-1729), a Scottish mathematician and astronomer, and George Mackenzie (1636-1691), a Scottish lawyer and writer who served as Lord Advocate of Scotland.
As the name spread beyond Scotland, it gained popularity in other parts of the British Isles and eventually in the United States and Canada. Some notable individuals with the first name Mckensie include Mckensie Warin (1890-1936), an Australian cricketer, and Mckensie Lewis (born 1991), an American actress.
While the name Mckensie has its roots in Scottish history and culture, it has since become a popular given name in its own right, particularly in English-speaking countries. Its Scottish origins and association with the Mackenzie clan continue to lend it a sense of tradition and heritage.
People
Mckensie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mckensie 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
Mckensie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mckensie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 750 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mckensie 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 457,006 US residents.
Is Mckensie a common name?
We classify Mckensie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 768 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mckensie most popular?
The single biggest year for Mckensie was 1997, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mckensie is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Mckensie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mckensie 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.
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.