Mckaylah
Of Scottish and French origin, meaning "the son of the handsome one".
Name Census estimates that about 256 living Americans carry the first name Mckaylah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mckaylah today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mckaylah births was 2005 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mckaylah. 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.
People living today
256
~ 1 in 1,338,884 Americans
Peak year
2005
20 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2015 SSA rank
#11,536
Tracked since 1996
Census
Mckaylah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 222 people with the first name Mckaylah, which placed it at #35,960 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
#35,960
National first-name rank
People counted
222
222 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mckaylah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mckaylah is White at 56.3%. The next largest groups are Black (18.9%) and Hispanic (13.5%). 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 Mckaylah 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 Mckaylah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.3% · 125
- Black or African American18.9% · 42
- Hispanic or Latino13.5% · 30
- Two or more races8.1% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 3
Popularity
Mckaylah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mckaylah from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 148 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Mckaylah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mckaylah 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 Mckaylah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mckaylahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mckaylah
The name Mckaylah is a relatively modern invention, originating in the late 20th century. It is a variant spelling of the name Michaela, which has its roots in the Hebrew name Michael, meaning "who is like God." The name Mckaylah combines the prefix "Mc" or "Mac," which is of Scottish and Irish origin, denoting "son of." This prefix is often found in Scottish and Irish surnames, but its use as a prefix for a given name is a more recent development.
While the name Mckaylah itself does not have a long historical lineage, the components that make up the name have deep roots. The name Michael, from which Michaela and Mckaylah are derived, has a rich history and can be traced back to the Bible, where it is the name of an archangel. The name was popularized by early Christian communities and has been widely used across various cultures and languages.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Mckaylah are relatively recent, with the name gaining popularity in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, particularly in English-speaking countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. However, due to its modern origins, there are no notable historical figures specifically recorded with the name Mckaylah.
The name Michaela, from which Mckaylah is derived, has had a more substantial historical presence. Some notable individuals with the name Michaela throughout history include:
1. Michaela Mertová (1912-1973), a Czech actress and singer.
2. Michaela Dorfmeister (born 1973), an Austrian former World Cup alpine ski racer.
3. Michaela Conlin (born 1978), an American actress known for her role in the TV series "Bones."
4. Michaela Coel (born 1987), a British actress, writer, and producer, known for her work on the series "Chewing Gum" and "I May Destroy You."
5. Michaela Shiffrin (born 1995), an American Olympic and World Cup alpine ski racer.
While the name Mckaylah may not have a long historical narrative, its components and origins are rooted in various cultural traditions, reflecting the diversity and creativity of modern name-giving practices.
People
Mckaylah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mckaylah 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
Mckaylah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mckaylah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 256 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mckaylah 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 1,338,884 US residents.
Is Mckaylah a common name?
We classify Mckaylah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 260 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mckaylah most popular?
The single biggest year for Mckaylah was 2005, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mckaylah is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mckaylah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 222 people with the name Mckaylah, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,960 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 Mckaylah 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 Mckaylah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mckaylah leans strongly female. 232 people counted with this name were female (98.7%), compared with 3 male bearers (1.3%). 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 Mckaylah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mckaylah is White at 56.3%. The next largest groups are Black (18.9%) and Hispanic (13.5%). 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 Mckaylah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mckaylah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.3% (125 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 Mckaylah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mckaylah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mckaylah 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 Mckaylah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mckaylah 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 Mckaylah 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 share the name Mckaylah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.