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Name Lineage

    The surname McCleary

    An Irish patronymic surname, carried by 6,554 people in the United States.

    3 syllables Soundex M246

    McCleary: #5,317 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer McCleary #5,317, 6,554 people McCleary: #5,317 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez McCleary #5,317, 6,554 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). McCleary is more common than 96.7% of them.

    Origin

    Irish origin

    Anglicized form of Irish Mac an Chléirigh (“son of the cleric”), from cléireach (“clerk, cleric”).

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

    One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 6,554 people named McCleary in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 47,108 Americans. That is up 2.8% since 2000, when the Census counted 6,373.

    #5,317
    rank among US surnames
    6,554
    people in 2010
    2.2
    per 100,000 Americans
    +2.8%
    change since 2000 (was #5,052)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #5,308Karl6,56447,036
    #5,309Beaudoin6,56247,051
    #5,310Stocker6,56147,058
    #5,311Erdman6,55847,079
    #5,313Brophy6,55747,086
    #5,315Mallett6,55647,094
    #5,316Barcia6,55547,101

    Who is named McCleary

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

    83% of people named McCleary identified as white (not Hispanic), 12% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.7% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 83%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 12%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.7%
    • Two or more races 2.0%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.2%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like McCleary

    McCleary has the Soundex code M246, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code M246.

    Other Irish surnames

    All 880 Irish surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname McCleary come from?
    Anglicized form of Irish Mac an Chléirigh (“son of the cleric”), from cléireach (“clerk, cleric”).
    How common is the surname McCleary?
    6,554 people in the United States had the surname McCleary in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 47,108 Americans. It ranked 5,317th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname McCleary?
    In the 2010 Census, 83% of people named McCleary identified as white (not Hispanic), and 12% as Black (not Hispanic).
    What type of surname is McCleary?
    McCleary is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
    Is the surname McCleary getting more or less common?
    More common. 6,373 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 6,554 in 2010, up 2.8%.