How common is the surname Mackay?

9,886 people in the United States had the surname Mackay in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 31,231 Americans. It ranked 3,600th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Mackay?

In the 2010 Census, 92% of people named Mackay identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Mackay?

George MacKay, British and Australian actor (born 1992), followed by Buddy MacKay.

Where is the surname Mackay most common?

Wikidata records people named Mackay in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 3 other countries.

Is the surname Mackay getting more or less common?

More common. 9,248 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 9,886 in 2010, up 6.9%.

The surname Mackay

A surname, carried by 9,886 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex M200

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Mackay is more common than 97.8% of them.

Origin

See McKay.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 9,886 people named Mackay in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 31,231 Americans. That is up 6.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 9,248.

#3,600

rank among US surnames

9,886

people in 2010

3.4

per 100,000 Americans

+6.9%

change since 2000 (was #3,528)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#3,592	Wirth	9,907	31,164
#3,593	Gilley	9,906	31,168
#3,594	Isbell	9,905	31,171
#3,595	Chamberlin	9,897	31,196
#3,596	Storm	9,895	31,202
#3,598	Quach	9,894	31,205
#3,599	Groff	9,889	31,221

Who is named Mackay

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

92% of people named Mackay identified as white (not Hispanic), 3.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.6% as Black (not Hispanic).

White (not Hispanic) 92%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.4%
Black (not Hispanic) 1.6%
Two or more races 1.5%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Mackays

12 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

George MacKay
British and Australian actor (born 1992)
Buddy MacKay
American politician (1933–2024)
James Mackay
Australian actor, born 1984
Jimmy Mackay
Australian soccer player (1943-1998)
Steve Mackay
American musician, saxophonist (1949-2015)
Elsie Mackay
British actress and aviator (1893-1928)
Emily Mackay
American middle- and long-distance runner, born 1998
Jeff MacKay
American actor (1948–2008)
Ernest J. H. Mackay
British archaeologist (1880-1943)
Donald Mackay, 11th Lord Reay
British colonial governor (1839–1921)
Donna Jean Godchaux
American singer, 1947–2025
Dawn Faith
Author, musician and television host from South Africa, born 1982

Notable Mackays come mostly from the United States (5), the United Kingdom (2) and Australia (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Mackay

Mackay has the Soundex code M200, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code M200.

Questions

Where does the surname Mackay come from?: See McKay.
How common is the surname Mackay?: 9,886 people in the United States had the surname Mackay in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 31,231 Americans. It ranked 3,600th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Mackay?: In the 2010 Census, 92% of people named Mackay identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Mackay?: George MacKay, British and Australian actor (born 1992), followed by Buddy MacKay.
Where is the surname Mackay most common?: Wikidata records people named Mackay in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 3 other countries.
Is the surname Mackay getting more or less common?: More common. 9,248 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 9,886 in 2010, up 6.9%.