Skip to content
Name Lineage

    The surname McLain

    A surname, carried by 17,152 people in the United States.

    2 syllables Soundex M245

    McLain: #2,109 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon McLain #2,109, 17,152 people McLain: #2,109 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez McLain #2,109, 17,152 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). McLain is more common than 98.7% of them.

    Origin

    A surname.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 17,152 people named McLain in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 18,001 Americans. That is up 1.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 16,978.

    #2,109
    rank among US surnames
    17,152
    people in 2010
    5.8
    per 100,000 Americans
    +1%
    change since 2000 (was #1,945)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #2,100Whittaker17,23417,915
    #2,102Huddleston17,23117,918
    #2,103Hoff17,22317,926
    #2,104Staples17,21717,933
    #2,105Mireles17,18617,965
    #2,106Mohr17,18017,971
    #2,107Ambrose17,17817,973

    Who is named McLain

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

    88% of people named McLain identified as white (not Hispanic), 7.2% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 88%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 7.2%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
    • Two or more races 1.6%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.8%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous McLains

    2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Ellen McLain
      American voice actress and opera singer, born 1952
    • Paula McLain
      American author, born 1965

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like McLain

    McLain has the Soundex code M245, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code M245.

    Questions

    How common is the surname McLain?
    17,152 people in the United States had the surname McLain in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 18,001 Americans. It ranked 2,109th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname McLain?
    In the 2010 Census, 88% of people named McLain identified as white (not Hispanic), and 7.2% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named McLain?
    Ellen McLain, American voice actress and opera singer, followed by Paula McLain.
    Where is the surname McLain most common?
    Wikidata records people named McLain in the United States.
    Is the surname McLain getting more or less common?
    More common. 16,978 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 17,152 in 2010, up 1.0%.