Mckinnley
Of Scottish origin, representing a diminutive form of "Innis," meaning "small island."
Name Census estimates that about 560 living Americans carry the first name Mckinnley. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Mckinnley today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mckinnley births was 2011 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mckinnley. 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
560
~ 1 in 612,061 Americans
Peak year
2011
51 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2017 SSA rank
#7,111
Tracked since 1994
Gender
Gender distribution for Mckinnley
Mckinnley leans heavily female at 87.3% of total registrations, but 72 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mckinnley as a male name
- Ranked #13,581 in 2017
- 5 male births in 2017
- Peak: 2011 (9 births)
Mckinnley as a female name
- Ranked #7,111 in 2024
- 16 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (42 births)
Popularity
Mckinnley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mckinnley from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 294 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
Mckinnley 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 Mckinnley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mckinnleys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mckinnley
The name Mckinnley is a Scottish surname that has been adapted as a given name. It is derived from the Gaelic words "mac" meaning "son" and "fhionnghaill" meaning "of the fair stranger or foreigner." The name was originally a patronymic surname given to those who were descendants of a person who had immigrated to Scotland from another country.
The earliest recorded use of the name Mckinnley dates back to the 16th century in Scotland. It was a common surname among Scottish clans, particularly in the Highlands and Islands regions. The name did not gain popularity as a given name until the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
One of the most notable historical figures with the name Mckinnley is William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States. He was born in 1843 and served as President from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. McKinley's presidency was marked by the Spanish-American War and the acquisition of territories such as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
Another famous person with the name Mckinnley was Ida McKinley, the wife of President William McKinley. She was born in 1847 and served as the First Lady of the United States from 1897 to 1901. Ida McKinley was known for her advocacy work in promoting the welfare of children and families.
McKinley Morganfield, better known as Muddy Waters, was an influential blues musician who played a significant role in shaping the sound of modern blues music. He was born in 1915 and passed away in 1983. Muddy Waters is often referred to as the "Father of Modern Chicago Blues."
In the literary world, McKinley Kantor was an American novelist and historian who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1956 for his novel "Andersonville." He was born in 1904 and died in 1977.
Another notable person with the name Mckinnley was McKinley Nolan, an American professional baseball player who played for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1940s and 1950s. He was born in 1925 and passed away in 2016.
People
Mckinnley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mckinnley 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
Mckinnley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mckinnley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 560 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mckinnley 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 612,061 US residents.
Is Mckinnley a common name?
We classify Mckinnley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 566 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mckinnley most popular?
The single biggest year for Mckinnley was 2011, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mckinnley is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Mckinnley a female name?
Yes, 87.3% of people registered as Mckinnley 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.