Macayla
Derived from the Irish surname MacCadhla, meaning "son of battle chief."
Name Census estimates that about 2,147 living Americans carry the first name Macayla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Macayla today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Macayla births was 2000 (140 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Macayla. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Macayla with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 159,643 Americans
Peak year
2000
140 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,512
Tracked since 1984
Census
Macayla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,939 people with the first name Macayla, which placed it at #7,741 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,741
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,939 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Macayla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Macayla is White at 67.3%. The next largest groups are Black (15.1%) and Hispanic (7.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Macayla described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Macayla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.3% · 1,305
- Black or African American15.1% · 293
- Hispanic or Latino7.8% · 151
- Two or more races6.7% · 130
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 35
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 25
Popularity
Macayla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Macayla from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,034 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Macayla by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Macayla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Macaylas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Macayla, while Oregon, Wisconsin, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 39 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Macayla
The given name Macayla is believed to have originated from the Scottish Gaelic language, with roots dating back to the Middle Ages. It is a feminine form of the name Macail, which is derived from the Gaelic word "mac" meaning "son" and the name "Cailean" or "Caillie," meaning "bright-headed" or "fair-haired."
This name was primarily used in the Scottish Highlands and Hebrides Islands during the 12th to 16th centuries. It is thought to have been inspired by the Celtic veneration of fair hair as a symbol of beauty and youthfulness. The name Macayla was likely given to girls with light-colored hair or a radiant complexion.
While the name Macayla does not appear directly in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its roots can be traced back to the rich cultural heritage of the Scottish Gaelic people. The earliest recorded instances of the name are found in Scottish clan records and genealogies from the 15th and 16th centuries.
One of the earliest notable figures bearing the name Macayla was Macayla MacLeod (c. 1520-1585), a Scottish noblewoman and chieftain's wife from the Isle of Skye. Another notable figure was Macayla MacDonald (c. 1650-1720), a renowned healer and midwife from the Isle of Islay, who was renowned for her expertise in traditional Gaelic remedies and birthing practices.
In the 18th century, Macayla Cameron (1725-1799) was a Scottish poet and songwriter from Lochaber, whose works celebrated the beauty of the Highlands and the valor of the Jacobite risings. During the 19th century, Macayla MacKinnon (1845-1912) was a prominent educator and advocate for Gaelic language preservation in Nova Scotia, Canada.
More recently, Macayla MacLean (1922-2005) was a Scottish-American artist and sculptor renowned for her abstract works inspired by the rugged landscapes of the Hebrides Islands.
These examples showcase the rich history and cultural significance of the name Macayla, which has been borne by notable figures across various fields throughout the centuries.
People
Macayla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Macayla as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Macayla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Macayla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,147 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Macayla going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 159,643 US residents.
Is Macayla a common name?
We classify Macayla as "Rare". It ranks above 94% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,189 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Macayla most popular?
The single biggest year for Macayla was 2000, when 140 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Macayla is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Macayla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,939 people with the name Macayla, or 0.64 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,741 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Macayla in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Macayla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Macayla appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,935 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Macayla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Macayla is White at 67.3%. The next largest groups are Black (15.1%) and Hispanic (7.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Macayla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Macayla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.3% (1,305 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Macayla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Macayla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Macayla in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Macayla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Macayla in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Macayla can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Macayla?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.