Makenna
Feminine name derived from Irish meaning "born of goodness".
Name Census estimates that about 32,810 living Americans carry the first name Makenna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Makenna today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Makenna births was 2005 (1,619 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Makenna. 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 Makenna with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Makenna is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
33K
~ 1 in 10,447 Americans
Peak year
2005
1,619 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
1996 SSA rank
#525
Tracked since 1982
Census
Makenna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 27,549 people with the first name Makenna, which placed it at #1,326 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
#1,326
National first-name rank
People counted
28K
27,549 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Makenna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Makenna is White at 82.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.7%) and Hispanic (5.6%). 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 Makenna 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 Makenna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.9% · 22,834
- Two or more races6.7% · 1,858
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 1,547
- Black or African American3.2% · 878
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 239
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 193
Gender
Gender distribution for Makenna
Out of the 33,243 babies given the name Makenna since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Makenna as a male name
- Ranked #6,887 in 1996
- 8 male births in 1996
- Peak: 1996 (8 births)
Makenna as a female name
- Ranked #525 in 2024
- 587 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2005 (1,619 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Makenna appears almost entirely female. Of the 27,550 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Makenna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Makenna 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 14,031 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
Makenna 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 Makenna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Makennas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, Ohio, Texas recorded the most babies named Makenna, while Rhode Island, Wyoming, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 644 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Makenna
The given name Makenna has its origins in the Gaelic language, originating from the regions of Scotland and Ireland. It is believed to be a feminine variation of the name Mackenzie, which itself derives from the Gaelic words "mac" meaning "son" and "coinneach" meaning "fair" or "bright."
In its earliest forms, the name was spelled as Makenzi or Makenzie, with the spelling Makenna emerging as a more modern variation. The name's roots can be traced back to the late 16th century, where it was used as a surname among Scottish clans.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Makenna appears in the Scottish Clan Donald genealogies, where a woman named Makenna Donald is mentioned as living in the late 16th century. However, the name did not gain widespread popularity until several centuries later.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Makenna. One such person was Makenna MacNeil (1807-1890), a Scottish poet and songwriter from the Isle of Barra, known for her contributions to the preservation of Gaelic culture and tradition.
Another prominent figure was Makenna O'Connell (1838-1917), an Irish-American journalist and activist who played a significant role in the Irish Nationalist movement and championed the cause of Irish independence from British rule.
In the 20th century, Makenna Greenwood (1913-2002) was a Canadian artist and painter, renowned for her vibrant landscapes and depictions of rural life in the Maritimes provinces of Canada.
Makenna Byrne (1927-2005) was an Australian author and children's book writer, whose works often explored themes of family, friendship, and the importance of embracing one's cultural heritage.
More recently, Makenna Newkirk (born 1985) is an American musician and singer-songwriter, known for her fusion of folk, indie, and alternative rock genres.
While the name Makenna has gained popularity in recent years, particularly in the United States and Canada, its historical roots and significance in Scottish and Irish culture have endured, making it a name rich in heritage and tradition.
People
Makenna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Makenna 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
Makenna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Makenna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 32,810 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Makenna 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 10,447 US residents.
Is Makenna a common name?
We classify Makenna as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 33,243 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Makenna most popular?
The single biggest year for Makenna was 2005, when 1,619 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Makenna is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Makenna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 27,549 people with the name Makenna, or 9.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,326 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 Makenna 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 Makenna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Makenna appears almost entirely female. Of the 27,550 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 Makenna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Makenna is White at 82.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.7%) and Hispanic (5.6%). 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 Makenna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Makenna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.9% (22,834 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 Makenna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Makenna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Makenna 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 Makenna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Makenna 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 Makenna 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 have the name Makenna?
See how many people have the name Makenna on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.