Explore the Family Name Mcclay

The meaning of Mcclay

Scottish and northern Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Léigh (Scottish) or Mac an Leagha (Irish) ‘son of the physician’.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Mcclay has seemingly declined between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, the rank of the name was at 12,490 but it dropped to 13,707 by 2010, which equates to a decrease of about 9.74%. The number of people carrying the Mcclay surname also decreased from 2,278 in 2000 to 2,208 in 2010, constituting a 3.07% decline. This corresponds to a reduced proportion per 100,000 people, going from 0.84 to 0.75, marking a 10.71% drop.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#12,490	#13,707	-9.74%
Count	2,278	2,208	-3.07%
Proportion per 100k	0.84	0.75	-10.71%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Mcclay

Examining the ethnic identity associated with the surname Mcclay, as per the Decennial U.S. Census data, there are noticeable changes between 2000 and 2010. The percentage of those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander slightly increased from 0.70% to 0.72%, while the count for American Indian and Alaskan Native showed a significant rise, from 0.26% to 0.82%. The representation of the surname among those identifying with two or more races grew substantially, from 1.27% to 1.90%. However, the proportion of individuals with the Mcclay surname who identified as White and Black saw minor decreases. The White percentage went from 76.03% to 75.18%, and the Black percentage fell from 20.50% to 19.70%. Despite these decreases, the Hispanic representation increased from 1.23% to 1.68%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	76.03%	75.18%	-1.12%
Black	20.5%	19.7%	-3.9%
Two or More Races	1.27%	1.9%	49.61%
Hispanic	1.23%	1.68%	36.59%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.26%	0.82%	215.38%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.7%	0.72%	2.86%