# McNeely (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/mcneely/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 11,350 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,183 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 27,202 people |
| Change since 2000 | +1.0% (11,235 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Meneely |

## Etymology

Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic and Northern Irish Mac an Fhilidh (“son of the poet”), from fili (“poet, seer”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named McNeely 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) | 84% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 11% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.3% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 2.0% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named McNeely in the United States.

## People named McNeely

- Joel McNeely, American composer
- Clifton McNeely, American basketball player-coach (1919-2003)
- Big Jay McNeely, American rhythm and blues saxophonist (1927–2018)

## Similar surnames

McNeil, McKinley, McNeal, McNeill, McNally, McAnally, MacNeil, McNiel, McNealy, McNeilly, McNelly, McNeeley.

## 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.