Explore the Family Name Maclay

The meaning of Maclay

Scottish (Glasgow): variant of McClay.

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

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

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Maclay has seen a significant decrease between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Maclay was ranked 41,203 in terms of popularity but dropped to 63,524 by 2010, indicating a decline of over 54%. The count of individuals carrying the Maclay surname also decreased from 499 in 2000 to 314 in 2010, a drop of more than 37%. Consequently, the proportion of people with this surname per 100,000 of the population fell from 0.18 to 0.11, a decrease of almost 39%.

20002010Change
Rank#41,203#63,524-54.17%
Count499314-37.07%
Proportion per 100k0.180.11-38.89%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Maclay

In regards to ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows that in 2000, the majority of individuals with the Maclay surname identified as White (95.39%), followed by those identifying as Hispanic (1.80%) or Asian/Pacific Islander (1.00%). By 2010, the number of Maclays identifying as White remained relatively stable at 94.90%, while there was no longer any representation from the Hispanic group. Interestingly, the Asian/Pacific Islander representation nearly doubled to 1.91%. There were no individuals identifying as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year. However, it should be noted that some data was suppressed for privacy reasons.

20002010Change
White95.39%94.9%-0.51%
Asian/Pacific Islander1%1.91%91%
Two or More Races1.2%0%0%
Hispanic1.8%0%0%
Black0%0%0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native0%0%0%