Mckinley
Masculine · “son of Finlay”
Mckinley is given to both — 9,786 boys and 13,098 girls since 1880. See Mckinley as a girl nameSee other names given to both
McKinley is a Scottish and Irish surname meaning son of Finlay, and it reached American children the way Garfield and Cleveland did: through the White House, and then through a mountain.
How old is the name Mckinley?
Mckinley first appears in US birth records in 1890 — 135 years ago. The typical Mckinley alive today was born around 1951, making them about 74 years old. About 5,200 people named Mckinley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mckinley most popular?
Mckinley peaked in 1896, reaching #137 nationally. Today it ranks #3658, 3,521 places below that high. See the whole 1896 chart.
Where it comes from
From Mac Fhionnlaigh to Mckinley
The story of Mckinley
William McKinley was elected at the end of the nineteenth century and assassinated early in his second term. The surname moved into American given names on the back of both events, and it was then fixed to the landscape when the highest peak in North America was named after him — a name the mountain carried for most of a century before its older Koyukon name, Denali, was restored. Few names have been attached to a president, a killing and a mountain in such a short span.
Meaning
son of Finlay
From Gaelic Mac Fhionnlaigh. The Finlay inside it is itself a compound, from fionn, 'fair' or 'white', and laoch, 'warrior' or 'hero', so the name reaches back to a description of a person rather than a place.
How the name formed
- Mac Fhionnlaigh
- McKinley
Related forms: Mac Fhionnlaigh
Pronouncing Mckinley
muh-KIN-lee
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The Mc is unstressed and light, closer to muh than to mack.
Nicknames for Mckinley
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
- 1890
- Most boys named
- 1920148 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #137reached in 1896
- Change vs 2022
- −38.8%30 in 2025, from 49
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.
Mckinley in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mac Fhionnlaigh in Scottish Gaelic — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Virginia, North Carolina, Texas.
Mckinleys among us
people named Mckinley are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 56,936 born in 2025 was named Mckinley
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Mckinley sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Mckinley is headed
Mckinley is easing off slowly — about 33% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Mckinley beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mckinley in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A genuine Gaelic patronymic with a documented meaning at two levels: son of Finlay, and Finlay itself as fair warrior.
- Kinley works as a modern short form and is already established as a name on its own.
- It reads as American and as Scottish at the same time, which few names manage.
- The capital K inside the name is spelled inconsistently — McKinley, Mckinley, MacKinley — and forms will mangle it for life.
- In current American use the name leans strongly towards girls, so a boy given it may be correcting assumptions.
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Mckinley
Masculine · #3658 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mckinleys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,200 people named Mckinley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mckinley in 2025?
- Mckinley ranks #3658 among US boy names in 2025, with 30 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mckinley?
- About 1 in every 56,936 US boys born in 2025 was named Mckinley — 30 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mckinley with classmates?
- Mckinley will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mckinley
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jimmie#3658 · Menno#3658 · Claudio#3658 · Ezekial#3658 · Brandt#3658 · Benuel#3658 · Kordell#3658 · Gustav#3658
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mckinley? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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