How common is the surname McCrae?

2,754 people in the United States had the surname McCrae in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 112,108 Americans. It ranked 11,436th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named McCrae?

George McCrae, American musician, followed by Gwen McCrae.

Where is the surname McCrae most common?

Wikidata records people named McCrae in the United States.

Is the surname McCrae getting more or less common?

More common. 2,511 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 2,754 in 2010, up 9.7%.

The surname McCrae

A Scottish Gaelic surname, carried by 2,754 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex M260

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). McCrae is more common than 93% of them.

Origin

Scottish Gaelic origin

Variant of McRae.

One of 277 Scottish Gaelic surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 2,754 people named McCrae in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 112,108 Americans. That is up 9.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 2,511.

#11,436

rank among US surnames

2,754

people in 2010

0.9

per 100,000 Americans

+9.7%

change since 2000 (was #11,500)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#11,428	Popa	2,757	111,986
#11,430	Eshelman	2,756	112,027
#11,436	Bovee	2,754	112,108
#11,440	Wehr	2,753	112,149
#11,443	Nygaard	2,752	112,190

Who is named McCrae

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

64% of people named McCrae identified as Black (not Hispanic), 29% as white (not Hispanic) and 3.6% as two or more races.

Black (not Hispanic) 64%
White (not Hispanic) 29%
Two or more races 3.6%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.7%

The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Asian & Pacific Islander, Native American are not shown.

Compare: most common surnames among Black Americans.

Famous McCraes

2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

George McCrae
American musician, born 1944
Gwen McCrae
American soul musician and singer (1943–2025)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like McCrae

McCrae has the Soundex code M260, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code M260.

Other Scottish Gaelic surnames

All 277 Scottish Gaelic surnames

Questions

Where does the surname McCrae come from?: Variant of McRae.
How common is the surname McCrae?: 2,754 people in the United States had the surname McCrae in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 112,108 Americans. It ranked 11,436th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname McCrae?: In the 2010 Census, 64% of people named McCrae identified as Black (not Hispanic), and 29% as white (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named McCrae?: George McCrae, American musician, followed by Gwen McCrae.
Where is the surname McCrae most common?: Wikidata records people named McCrae in the United States.
Is the surname McCrae getting more or less common?: More common. 2,511 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 2,754 in 2010, up 9.7%.