Explore the Family Name Cairney

The meaning of Cairney

1. Irish: variant of Kearney. 2. Scottish (Lanarkshire): variant of Cairnie, in some cases perhaps a Scottish form of Irish Kearney, or a habitational name from Cairnie in Aberdeenshire, Cairnie in Arbroath (Angus), or Cairnies in Stirlingshire.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Cairney in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Cairney has seen a rise in its popularity over the years. In the year 2000, it was ranked as 78,549 but by 2010, it had moved up to 72,771, showing an increase of 7.36%. In terms of the count, which refers to the number of people with the surname Cairney, there was an increase from 226 in 2000 to 267 in 2010 - an increase of 18.14%. The proportion per 100,000 also saw a positive change from 0.08 in 2000 to 0.09 in 2010 reflecting a growth of 12.5%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#78,549	#72,771	7.36%
Count	226	267	18.14%
Proportion per 100k	0.08	0.09	12.5%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Cairney

Regarding the ethnic identity associated with the surname Cairney, data derived from the Decennial U.S. Census shows certain shifts between 2000 and 2010. The majority of individuals with this surname identify as White, although there was a slight decrease from 97.35% in 2000 to 95.51% in 2010. The Hispanic representation within this surname dropped completely from 2.21% in 2000 to zero in 2010. There were no individuals with this surname identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either 2000 or 2010. However, there was a new appearance of those identifying with two or more races, accounting for 3% in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.35%	95.51%	-1.89%
Two or More Races	0%	3%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Hispanic	2.21%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%