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

McDaniels, 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 McDaniels surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of McDaniels in America

McDaniels is the 4858th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The McDaniels surname appeared 7,256 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname McDaniels.

We can also compare 2010 data for McDaniels 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 McDaniels

The surname McDaniels has its origins in Scotland during the late medieval period. It is a patronymic name, meaning it was derived from the given name of an ancestor. In this case, McDaniels is a variant of the more common Scottish surname MacDonald, which itself comes from the Gaelic personal name Domhnall, meaning "world ruler" or "world mighty."

The prefix "Mc" or "Mac" in Scottish surnames indicates "son of." Therefore, McDaniels likely originated as a designation for the son of a man named Daniel or Donald. The earliest recorded instances of the name come from the 16th century, with spellings such as McDaniel, McDanield, and McDaniell appearing in various Scottish records and charters.

One notable early bearer of the name was Sir Alexander McDaniell, a Scottish knight who fought alongside Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Another early example is John McDaniel, a landowner in Ayrshire, Scotland, who is mentioned in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland in 1489.

As the McDaniels family spread throughout Scotland and later to other parts of the British Isles, the name took on various spellings, such as McDaniel, McDanields, and McDaniells. The spelling McDaniels appears to have become more standardized in the 17th and 18th centuries.

In the 18th century, a branch of the McDaniels family emigrated from Scotland to Ireland, settling in County Antrim. One notable member of this Irish branch was William McDaniels, a prominent merchant and landowner in Belfast in the late 1700s.

Another notable bearer of the name was Sir James McDaniell (1762-1837), a Scottish-born businessman and politician who served as Lord Provost of Glasgow from 1818 to 1820. In the United States, one of the earliest recorded McDaniels was James McDaniels, who settled in Pennsylvania in the early 1700s.

Other notable individuals with the surname McDaniels include:

1. Rodney McDaniels (1938-1995), an American professional basketball player who played for the New York Knicks in the 1960s.
2. Susan McDaniels (born 1943), an American singer and actress best known for her role in the Broadway musical "Hair."
3. Jalen McDaniels (born 1998), an American professional basketball player currently playing for the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA.
4. Gladys McDaniels (1918-2006), an American gospel singer and songwriter, and a member of the renowned McDaniels Sisters vocal group.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name McDaniels

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

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

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

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