Mckinsey
An Anglicized spelling of the Gaelic personal name Finlaeċ, meaning "son of the brilliant ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 1,076 living Americans carry the first name Mckinsey. It is a predominantly female name (98.0% of registrations). The average person named Mckinsey today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mckinsey births was 2006 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mckinsey. 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
1.1K
~ 1 in 318,545 Americans
Peak year
2006
55 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
1981 SSA rank
#5,286
Tracked since 1954
Census
Mckinsey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,062 people with the first name Mckinsey, which placed it at #11,892 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
#11,892
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,062 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mckinsey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mckinsey is White at 77.2%. The next largest groups are Black (10.3%) and Two or More Races (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 Mckinsey 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 Mckinsey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.2% · 820
- Black or African American10.3% · 109
- Two or more races5.6% · 60
- Hispanic or Latino5.4% · 57
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Mckinsey
Mckinsey leans heavily female at 98.0% of total registrations, but 22 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mckinsey as a male name
- Ranked #5,286 in 1981
- 7 male births in 1981
- Peak: 1981 (7 births)
Mckinsey as a female name
- Ranked #16,773 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2006 (55 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mckinsey leans strongly female. 992 people counted with this name were female (93.5%), compared with 69 male bearers (6.5%).
Popularity
Mckinsey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mckinsey from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 404 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
Mckinsey 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 Mckinsey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mckinseys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Ohio recorded the most babies named Mckinsey, while Virginia, Utah, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mckinsey
The name Mckinsey is a modern amalgamation of two distinct names, McKinney and Kinsey, both of which have their roots in various Celtic and Anglo-Saxon origins. It does not appear to have any direct linguistic lineage or historical significance as a singular given name.
The first part, McKinney, is believed to derive from the Gaelic surname "Mac Ionnaic," which translates to "son of Ionnaic." Ionnaic is thought to be a diminutive form of the name Ioan or John. This name was particularly common in Ireland and Scotland during the Middle Ages. One of the earliest recorded instances of the McKinney name can be traced back to the 14th century in Ulster, Ireland.
The second part, Kinsey, is an English surname that originated from the Old English word "cyning," meaning "king." It was initially used as a descriptive name for someone who had a regal or kingly demeanor. The earliest known record of the Kinsey surname dates back to the 13th century in Yorkshire, England.
While the combined name Mckinsey does not have a long historical tradition, there are a few notable individuals who have carried this name in recent times. One of the earliest recorded instances is McKinsey Pishner, an American artist and illustrator born in 1899. Another individual of note is McKinsey Rankin, an American baseball player who played for the Detroit Tigers in the 1940s.
Another prominent figure with the name Mckinsey is McKinsey Kempner, a German-American businessman and entrepreneur who founded the renowned management consulting firm McKinsey & Company in 1926. While his first name was not Mckinsey, the company's name has undoubtedly contributed to the recognition and familiarity of this unique moniker.
In the literary world, there is McKinsey Melton, an American author and poet known for her works exploring themes of identity and cultural heritage. She was born in 1988 and has published several collections of poetry and short stories.
Lastly, McKinsey Foley is a contemporary American actress and model who has appeared in various television shows and films throughout the 2010s and 2020s. She was born in 1991 and continues to work in the entertainment industry.
While the name Mckinsey may not have a deep historical significance as a standalone given name, its components reflect diverse cultural and linguistic origins, and its modern usage has been shaped by a handful of notable individuals across various fields.
People
Mckinsey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mckinsey 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
Mckinsey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mckinsey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,076 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mckinsey 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 318,545 US residents.
Is Mckinsey a common name?
We classify Mckinsey as "Rare". It ranks above 90.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,102 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mckinsey most popular?
The single biggest year for Mckinsey was 2006, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mckinsey is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mckinsey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,062 people with the name Mckinsey, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,892 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 Mckinsey 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 Mckinsey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mckinsey leans strongly female. 992 people counted with this name were female (93.5%), compared with 69 male bearers (6.5%). 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 Mckinsey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mckinsey is White at 77.2%. The next largest groups are Black (10.3%) and Two or More Races (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 Mckinsey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mckinsey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.2% (820 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 Mckinsey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mckinsey a female name?
Yes, 98.0% of people registered as Mckinsey 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 Mckinsey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mckinsey 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 Mckinsey 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 common is the name Mckinsey?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Mckinsey, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.