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

McNemar, 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 McNemar surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of McNemar in America

McNemar is the 25064th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The McNemar surname appeared 991 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 McNemar.

We can also compare 2010 data for McNemar 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 McNemar

The surname McNemar has its origins in the Scottish Highlands, emerging in the late 16th century. It is a variant of the more common Scottish surname MacNamar, which itself is derived from the Gaelic personal name "Naomhar," meaning "holy" or "sacred." The prefix "Mac" signifies "son of," indicating that McNemar was originally a patronymic name.

McNemar is believed to have originated in the region of Argyll, on the western coast of Scotland. The earliest recorded instances of the name appear in parish records and local histories from this area in the late 1500s and early 1600s, often spelled as "McNamar" or "McNamarra."

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was John McNamar, who was listed in the Argyll parish records in 1612. Another notable early figure was Dougal McNamar, a landowner in the village of Kilmartin, Argyll, whose name appears in a charter from 1638.

By the 18th century, the McNemar spelling had become more prevalent, and the name had spread to other parts of Scotland and beyond. In 1725, a John McNemar was born in the village of Longside, Aberdeenshire, in northeastern Scotland.

The name also made its way to Ireland, likely through Scottish settlers or plantation workers. One of the earliest recorded Irish bearers of the name was Patrick McNemar, born in County Tyrone in 1768.

As the McNemar family dispersed throughout the British Isles and eventually to North America, the name continued to evolve with various spellings, including McNemor, McNemour, and McNemore.

Among the more notable figures with the McNemar surname are:

1. Robert McNemar (1822-1889), an American preacher and leader of the Shakers, a religious movement in the United States.

2. William McNemar (1773-1847), an American minister and one of the founders of the Shaker movement in Ohio.

3. John McNemar (1863-1927), an American physicist and professor at Ohio State University, known for his contributions to the field of optics.

4. Quinn McNemar (1909-1998), an American statistician and professor at Stanford University, known for developing the McNemar test for paired data.

5. Robert McNemar (1906-1986), an American psychologist and professor at Stanford University, known for his work in human memory and learning.

The McNemar surname has a rich history rooted in the Scottish Highlands, with links to both Scotland and Ireland, and later spreading to North America, where it has made notable contributions in fields such as religion, academia, and science.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name McNemar

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

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

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

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