Explore the Family Name Mehaffey

The meaning of Mehaffey

Scottish and Irish: variant of McHaffie. This was originally a Scottish name which was taken to Antrim in the 16th century.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the Mehaffey surname experienced a slight decline between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, the surname was ranked 16,682 in terms of popularity, but by 2010, it had dropped to 17,216, marking a decrease of 3.2%. However, the actual count of individuals with the Mehaffey surname rose from 1,580 in 2000 to 1,645 in 2010, an increase of 4.11%. Despite this rise in count, the proportion per 100,000 people decreased from 0.59 to 0.56 during this same time frame, reflecting a drop of 5.08%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#16,682	#17,216	-3.2%
Count	1,580	1,645	4.11%
Proportion per 100k	0.59	0.56	-5.08%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Mehaffey

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals that the majority of individuals with the Mehaffey surname identify as white, though there has been a slight decrease in this category from 97.28% in 2000 to 96.47% in 2010. There were no individuals who identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year. The number of those identifying as two or more races decreased slightly from 0.82% to 0.79%, while the percentage of those identifying as Hispanic saw a substantial increase of 62.96% over the decade. Similarly, the percentage of Black individuals with the surname Mehaffey also increased, rising from 0.32% in 2000 to 0.49% in 2010, marking a growth of 53.13%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.28%	96.47%	-0.83%
Hispanic	1.08%	1.76%	62.96%
Two or More Races	0.82%	0.79%	-3.66%
Black	0.32%	0.49%	53.13%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%