Skip to content
Name Lineage

    The surname MacGregor

    A patronymic surname, carried by 5,161 people in the United States.

    3 syllables Soundex M262

    MacGregor: #6,565 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer MacGregor #6,565, 5,161 people MacGregor: #6,565 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez MacGregor #6,565, 5,161 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). MacGregor is more common than 96% of them.

    Origin

    From Scottish Gaelic MacGriogair (“son of gregory”).

    MacGregor is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 5,161 people named MacGregor in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 59,823 Americans. That is up 1.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 5,064.

    #6,565
    rank among US surnames
    5,161
    people in 2010
    1.8
    per 100,000 Americans
    +1.9%
    change since 2000 (was #6,221)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #6,558Cespedes5,16859,742
    #6,560Stricker5,16459,788
    #6,562Endres5,16359,800
    #6,565MacGregor5,16159,823
    #6,566Wrenn5,16059,834
    #6,567Gaylord5,15959,846

    Who is named MacGregor

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    94% of people named MacGregor identified as white (not Hispanic), 3.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.4% as two or more races.

    • White (not Hispanic) 94%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.1%
    • Two or more races 1.4%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 0.8%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous MacGregors

    5 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Katherine MacGregor
      American actress (1925-2018)
    • Neil MacGregor
      British art historian (born 1946)
    • John MacGregor
      British canoeist (1825-1892)
    • William MacGregor
      British colonial governor and administrator (1846-1919)
    • Mary MacGregor
      American singer, born 1948

    Notable MacGregors come mostly from the United States (2), the United Kingdom (1) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Variant spellings

    Surnames that sound like MacGregor

    MacGregor has the Soundex code M262, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code M262.

    Questions

    Where does the surname MacGregor come from?
    From Scottish Gaelic MacGriogair (“son of gregory”).
    How common is the surname MacGregor?
    5,161 people in the United States had the surname MacGregor in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 59,823 Americans. It ranked 6,565th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname MacGregor?
    In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named MacGregor identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
    Who is the most famous person named MacGregor?
    Katherine MacGregor, American actress (1925-2018), followed by Neil MacGregor.
    Where is the surname MacGregor most common?
    Wikidata records people named MacGregor in the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and 1 other country.
    What type of surname is MacGregor?
    MacGregor is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
    Is the surname MacGregor getting more or less common?
    More common. 5,064 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 5,161 in 2010, up 1.9%.
    What are other spellings of MacGregor?
    Magregor, Ma'gregor, M'gregor, Mcgregor and Gregor.