Mac
Masculine · “son”
Mac is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 11,397 boys against 58 girls since 1880.
Mac is one of the oldest words in Irish and Scottish Gaelic still in everyday use: it means "son", and it sits at the front of hundreds of surnames — MacDonald, MacGregor, MacLeod. Everyone who speaks English recognizes it on sight, yet it stands alone as a first name only rarely. One syllable, one certain spelling, and a very long paper trail behind it.
How old is the name Mac?
Mac was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Mac alive today was born around 1976, making them about 49 years old. About 8,000 people named Mac are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mac most popular?
Mac peaked in 1942, reaching #308 nationally. Today it ranks #695, 387 places below that high. See the whole 1942 chart.
Where it comes from
From macc (Old Irish) to Mac
The story of Mac
The Goidelic word mac, spelled macc in Old Irish, has meant "son" for well over a thousand years, and medieval Irish and Scottish families used it to build surnames from a father's or ancestor's name. Scottish and Irish emigration carried those surnames across the Atlantic in great numbers through the nineteenth century, where the prefix itself became an informal way to address a man whose Mac- name you half-remembered. From there it went the way many American nicknames go: onto birth certificates, first as a familiar form and then in its own right. It has been on the US record since record-keeping began, quietly, without ever crowding a classroom.
Meaning
son
In Irish and Scottish Gaelic, mac is the word for "son", used to form patronymic surnames — MacDonald meaning son of Donald. As a standalone given name it also works as a clipped form of any Mac- or Mc- surname used as a first name, and of Malcolm and Mackenzie.
How the name formed
- maccOld Irish
- macIrish and Scottish Gaelic
- MacDonald, MacGregor and other Mac- surnames
- Mac
Related forms: Mac · Mac · Mack · Mab
Pronouncing Mac
MAK
One syllable, rhyming with back. It sounds the same in English, Irish and Scottish Gaelic, and travels without correction.
Nicknames for Mac
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 2022465 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #308reached in 1942
- Change vs 2022
- −16.1%390 in 2025, from 465
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Mac in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mac in Scottish Gaelic — same name
- Mac in Irish — same name
- Mack in English — spelling variant
- Mab in Welsh — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Ohio.
Macs among us
people named Mac are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 4,380 born in 2025 was named Mac
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mac
- #695
- Mac on the 2025 chart
- #309
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mac went to 390 boys in 2025, but Mack and Mak are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 1,070, which makes it the 309th most-given boys’ name of the year — 386 places above the chart.
- Mack668
- Mac390
- Mak12
About 1 boy in 1,596 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 4,380 for Mac itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Thaddeus test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mac's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Thaddeus climbed just as high around 1918, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Thaddeus's path sketches the road Mac is walking now.
Mac is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Mac is headed
Mac looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 18% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Mac beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mac in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and one spelling: it is written the way it is heard, in almost any language that uses the Latin alphabet.
- Recognized instantly everywhere English is spoken, thanks to the Mac- and Mc- surnames it comes from.
- Works as a standalone name or as the short form of Malcolm, Mackenzie, McKinley or a family surname, so a longer legal name is easy to pair with it.
- Present on the US record for its full length, with a clear rise among older generations and renewed use now — familiar without being common.
- Mac has been generic American slang for addressing a stranger — "listen, Mac" — and it also carries commercial echoes: Apple computers, the Big Mac, mac and cheese, a mackintosh raincoat. Most of these fade quickly in daily life, but they will come up.
- At three letters it offers no room to grow into something more formal. Parents who want a full-length option on a résumé often put Malcolm, Mackenzie or a family surname on the certificate and use Mac at home.
- Because Mackenzie has been widely given to girls, some people will assume Mac is short for that. US records list it as a boy's name, and a brief clarification usually settles it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Mac to the vote.
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What they receive
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Mac
Masculine · #695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Macs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 8,000 people named Mac are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mac?
- Mac is one of 3 recorded spellings. Mack is the more common one — 668 births in 2025 against 390 for Mac.
- How popular is the name Mac in 2025?
- Mac ranks #695 among US boy names in 2025, with 390 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mac?
- About 1 in every 4,380 US boys born in 2025 was named Mac — 390 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mac with classmates?
- Mac will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mac
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Duke#695 · Sevyn#695 · Idris#694 · Evander#698 · Dax#692 · Dexter#692 · Marvin#699 · Tomas#691
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mac? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mac and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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