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

McDaniel, 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 McDaniel surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of McDaniel in America

McDaniel is the 352nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The McDaniel surname appeared 88,728 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 30 people would have the surname McDaniel.

We can also compare 2010 data for McDaniel 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 McDaniel

The surname McDaniel originates from Scotland and is a patronymic name, meaning it was derived from the name of an ancestor. Specifically, it is a variant of the Gaelic name MacDhòmhnaill, which means "son of Donald" or "son of the world ruler."

In the early centuries after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, many Scottish families migrated southward, leading to the surname becoming anglicized to various spellings such as McDaniel, MacDaniel, and McDaniell. The name first appeared in written records in the 13th century, with early instances found in the Ragman Rolls, a collection of homage rolls documenting Scottish landowners swearing fealty to King Edward I of England in the late 13th century.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Sir John McDaniel, a Scottish knight who fought alongside Robert the Bruce in the Wars of Scottish Independence in the early 14th century. Later, in the 16th century, the McDaniel family held lands in Argyllshire and Ayrshire, with their ancestral seat located in the village of Glendaruel, Argyll.

Notable individuals with the surname McDaniel include:

1. Joseph McDaniel (1717-1790), an American Revolutionary War soldier and early settler in Kentucky.
2. William McDaniel (1820-1898), a Confederate general during the American Civil War.
3. Hattie McDaniel (1895-1952), an African American actress who became the first black performer to win an Academy Award for her role in the film "Gone with the Wind" in 1939.
4. Wilbur McDaniel (1918-2007), an American botanist and professor at the University of Florida.
5. Maceo McDaniel (1923-2003), an American politician who served as the first African American mayor of Gulfport, Mississippi, from 1985 to 1989.

While the surname McDaniel has Scottish roots, it has since spread to various parts of the world, particularly in the United States, Canada, and Australia, due to migration and the diaspora of Scottish families over the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name McDaniel

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

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 McDaniel 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 McDaniel 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 McDaniel was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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