# McKenna (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/mckenna/  
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 Scottish Gaelic.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Scottish Gaelic |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 27,293 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,284 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 11,312 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.2% (26,189 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /məˈkɛnə/, 3 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Makenna, Mackenna |

## Etymology

From the Irish and Scottish Gaelic surname, variant of McKinney.

## Who carries it

Share of people named McKenna 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) | 94% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.9% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.1% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.2% |
| Two or more races | 1.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named McKenna in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

## People named McKenna

- Terence McKenna, American ethnobotanist and mystic (1946–2000)
- Virginia McKenna, British actress
- Mia McKenna-Bruce, British actress
- Chris McKenna, American television producer and writer
- Kieran McKenna, association football manager (born 1986)
- Reginald McKenna, British banker and Liberal politician (1863-1943)
- Alex McKenna, American actress
- Lori McKenna, American musician
- Malcolm McKenna, American paleontologist (1930–2008)
- Richard McKenna, American writer (1913-1964)
- Aline Brosh McKenna, American screenwriter (born 1967)
- Dave McKenna, American musician (1930-2008)

and 5 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

McKinney, McKeon, McKeown, McKenney, McKean, McKown, McKinnie, McKain, McKeen, McKenny, McEwan, McKeehan.

## 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.