# McHale (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/mchale/  
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) | 6,391 |
| US rank (2010) | 5,444 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 48,309 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.0% (6,267 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Anglicized form of Irish mac céile (“son of the companion”) or, alternatively, from Irish Mac Haol (“son of Haol”), a Gaelicized form of Howell.

## Who carries it

Share of people named McHale 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) | 96% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.3% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.1% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.1% |
| Two or more races | 1.5% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named McHale in the United States and Italy.

## People named McHale

- Joel McHale, American actor and comedian
- Kevin McHale, American basketball player (born 1957)
- Christina McHale, American female tennis player
- Kevin McHale, American actor and singer

## Similar surnames

Michael, Michel, McCall, McCauley, McAuley, McCaulley, McCawley, Maxwell, Mosley, McGill, Moseley, Maciel.

## 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.