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

McDay, 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 McDay surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of McDay in America

McDay is the 58604th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The McDay surname appeared 346 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname McDay.

We can also compare 2010 data for McDay 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 McDay

The surname MCDAY is believed to have originated in Scotland during the medieval period. It is a variant of the more common Scottish surname MCDADE, which itself derives from the Gaelic "Mac Dáithí," meaning "son of Dáithí." Dáithí was a personal name that was derived from the old Gaelic word "daith," meaning "poet" or "satirist."

One of the earliest recorded instances of the MCDAY surname can be found in the Ragman Rolls of 1296, a collection of homage pledges made to King Edward I of England by Scottish nobles and landowners. In these rolls, a "William McKedy" is mentioned as a landholder in the county of Ayr.

The MCDAY surname has also been historically associated with the Scottish Clan Buchanan, a Highland clan whose ancestral lands were centered around Loch Lomond. In the 16th century, a branch of the clan known as the "McDays of Arrochar" was recorded as residing in the parish of Arrochar, which sits on the western shore of Loch Lomond.

One notable MCDAY from Scottish history was Captain John McDay (c. 1570 - c. 1640), a soldier who served under King James VI of Scotland and later King Charles I of England. McDay was a veteran of the Thirty Years' War and was granted lands in County Antrim, Ireland, for his military service.

Another prominent MCDAY was Rev. Samuel McDay (1684 - 1762), a Presbyterian minister who emigrated from Scotland to America in the early 18th century. He served as the pastor of the Congregational Church in Salem, Massachusetts, and was a leading figure in the Great Awakening religious movement.

In the 19th century, John McDay (1819 - 1892) was a Scottish-born journalist and newspaper editor who founded the Glasgow Evening Times in 1876. The newspaper remains one of the most widely read publications in Scotland to this day.

Other notable individuals with the MCDAY surname include Scottish politician and lawyer Robert McDay (1856 - 1927), Australian journalist and author Osborne McDay (1892 - 1963), and American artist and illustrator Donald McDay (1926 - 2018).

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name McDay

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

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

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

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