Find out how popular the last name McCallum is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named McCallum.

McCallum, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the McCallum surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of McCallum in America

McCallum is the 3495th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The McCallum surname appeared 10,229 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname McCallum.

We can also compare 2010 data for McCallum to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name McCallum

The surname McCallum is of Scottish origin, derived from the Gaelic "mac Challuim" meaning "son of Calum" or "son of the dove." The name can be traced back to the 12th century in Scotland, particularly in the regions of Argyll and the Western Isles.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is in the Ragman Rolls of 1296, which lists those who swore allegiance to King Edward I of England. The name appears as "Malcolm Mackalmunel" in this document. Similar spellings such as "MacCholman" and "MacCholmun" were also found in medieval Scottish records.

The name McCallum has historical connections to the Clan MacLeod and the Clan Donald, two powerful Scottish clans. In the 16th century, a branch of the Clan Donald adopted the surname McCallum, and they were known as the "McCallumore" or "McCallumlot" sept.

One notable McCallum in history was Alexander McCallum (1784-1851), a Scottish-born American author and journalist who wrote extensively about the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Another prominent figure was John McCallum (1857-1923), a Scottish-born Australian politician who served as the Premier of Western Australia from 1901 to 1902.

In the literary world, Archibald McCallum (1890-1974) was a Canadian novelist and short story writer known for his works depicting rural life in Ontario. William Cooper McCallum (1921-2013) was a renowned American mathematician who made significant contributions to the field of analysis and functional analysis.

Lastly, Pamela McCallum (1934-2008) was a British-born Australian actress and singer who had a successful career in theater, television, and film. She is remembered for her roles in the Australian television series "Bellbird" and the film "The Fringe Dwellers."

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name McCallum

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname McCallum.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for McCallum was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of McCallum has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name McCallum was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of McCallum, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!