Mckoy
Anglicized form of Irish Gaelic surname Mac Aoidh meaning "son of fire".
Name Census estimates that about 261 living Americans carry the first name Mckoy. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mckoy today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mckoy births was 2016 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mckoy. 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
261
~ 1 in 1,313,235 Americans
Peak year
2016
22 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,533
Tracked since 1999
Census
Mckoy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 244 people with the first name Mckoy, which placed it at #33,765 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
#33,765
National first-name rank
People counted
244
244 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mckoy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mckoy is White at 79.9%. The next largest groups are Black (11.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.3%). 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 Mckoy 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 Mckoy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.9% · 195
- Black or African American11.5% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 8
- Two or more races3.3% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 5
Popularity
Mckoy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mckoy from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 138 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Mckoy remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mckoy 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 Mckoy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mckoys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mckoy
The name Mckoy is a modern anglicized version of the Scottish Gaelic name MacAoidh, which originated in the Scottish Highlands. It is a patronymic surname derived from the personal name Aoidh, an ancient Celtic name meaning "fire" or "flame." The prefix "Mac" is a Gaelic term meaning "son of."
The earliest recorded use of the name Mckoy dates back to the 16th century, when it was primarily found in the Scottish Highlands and Islands. During this time period, the name was associated with various Highland clans, including the Clan MacAoidh and the Clan Mackay.
In the 17th century, the name Mckoy began to appear in historical records and documents related to the Scottish diaspora, as many Scots emigrated to various parts of the British Empire, including North America and the Caribbean. One notable bearer of the name during this period was Mckoy Mackay (1620-1692), a Scottish soldier and explorer who served in the British Army and played a role in the settlement of Jamaica.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the name Mckoy continued to be found among Scottish immigrants and their descendants in various parts of the world. One prominent figure bearing this name was Mckoy Campbell (1780-1857), a Scottish-born merchant and landowner who settled in Jamaica and became a prominent figure in the island's sugar industry.
In the 20th century, the name Mckoy gained wider recognition and usage outside of its Scottish origins. One notable bearer of the name was Mckoy Everett (1901-1988), an American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Everett Corporation, a successful construction company based in Florida.
Another notable figure was Mckoy Wilson (1920-2005), a Jamaican-born artist and sculptor who gained international acclaim for his contributions to the contemporary art scene in the Caribbean and beyond. His works are featured in various museums and collections around the world.
While the name Mckoy may have evolved from its Scottish Gaelic roots, it has since transcended its cultural origins and has been adopted by individuals of various backgrounds and nationalities, reflecting the global reach and influence of the Scottish diaspora.
People
Mckoy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mckoy 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
Mckoy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mckoy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 261 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mckoy 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 1,313,235 US residents.
Is Mckoy a common name?
We classify Mckoy as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 263 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mckoy most popular?
The single biggest year for Mckoy was 2016, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mckoy is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mckoy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 244 people with the name Mckoy, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,765 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 Mckoy 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 Mckoy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mckoy leans strongly male. 214 people counted with this name were male (91.5%), compared with 20 female bearers (8.5%). 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 Mckoy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mckoy is White at 79.9%. The next largest groups are Black (11.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.3%). 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 Mckoy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mckoy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.9% (195 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 Mckoy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mckoy a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mckoy in the SSA data are male. 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 Mckoy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mckoy 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 Mckoy 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 called Mckoy?
You can see how many Americans are named Mckoy on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.