# McCaffrey (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/mccaffrey/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Irish.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Irish |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 8,181 |
| US rank (2010) | 4,339 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 37,739 people |
| Change since 2000 | +1.3% (8,078 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Caffrey |

## Etymology

Anglicized form of Northern Irish Mac Gafraidh (“son of Gafradh”), a Gaelicized form of the personal name Godfrey. Compare the surname McGorry.

## Who carries it

Share of people named McCaffrey in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 95% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.3% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.1% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.2% |
| Two or more races | 1.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named McCaffrey in the United States.

## People named McCaffrey

- Anne McCaffrey, American-Irish novelist (1926–2011)
- Christian McCaffrey, American football player (born 1996)
- James McCaffrey, American actor (1958–2023)
- Pete McCaffrey, American basketball player (1938–2012)
- Ed McCaffrey, American football player
- Stephanie McCaffrey, American soccer player

## Similar surnames

McCaffery, McCafferty, McBride, McFarland, McPherson, McGovern, McFarlane, McKeever, Mashburn, Macpherson, McIver, Macfarlane.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.