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Mac

boy name
Origin
Scottish
Syllables
1
Peak era
2020s
Today
▬ Steady

Torn between Mac and another name? Compare them side by side →

Meaning

“Gaelic prefix meaning 'son of', used as a standalone nickname”

The story

Mac can fit a family tree, an orchard, and a computer into three letters. The given name is a variant of Mack, often shortened from surnames beginning Mac or Mc. In Gaelic, mac means son, so countless longer surnames use it to state descent. A separate cultural turn came through the McIntosh apple. That cultivar inspired the name Macintosh for a computer project, and everyday speech eventually clipped Macintosh back to Mac. The machine did not create the personal name, and the apple is not its etymology. The pleasure is in watching the same sound cross unrelated systems: genealogy marks a son, a fruit names a machine, and a machine becomes a household nickname. Modern parents may arrive by any route or none of them. Mac works because it is brisk and complete on its own, but its history is surprisingly crowded. Open those three letters and several different kinds of family appear.

More names with stories →

The formal names behind Mac

Mac is an established short form of each of these names.

Mackenzie · Scottish origin · surname, "son of Kenneth", traditionally "fair one"

Makenzie · Scottish origin · variant spelling of McKenzie, Scottish surname 'fair one'

Why we verify every short-form relationship →

How popular is Mac around the world?

In the United States, 2,323 babies were named Mac between 2020 and 2025. In Scotland, 34 boys named Mac were registered in 2024, the 139th most common name among boys that year.

Mac is on the official records of the United States, Scotland, New Zealand, Canada, England and Wales, South Australia and Brazil.

United States

1 in 9,400

In the United States, 2,323 babies were named Mac between 2020 and 2025.

1890speak 2020s

Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Mac peaked in the 2020s. In US birth records Mac has stayed between 383 and 2,323 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.

Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration

See the full list for the United States →

Scotland

1 in 1,300

In Scotland, 34 boys named Mac were registered in 2024, the 139th most common name among boys that year.

1990peak 2024

share of that year’s name registrations

Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names

See the full list for Scotland →

New Zealand

1 in 3,400

In New Zealand, 17 boys named Mac were registered in 2025.

2000peak 2023

share of that year’s name registrations

First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time

See the full list for New Zealand →

Canada

1 in 11,000

In Canada, 33 boys named Mac were born in 2024, the 794th most common name among boys that year.

1991peak 2023

share of that year’s name registrations

First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)

See the full list for Canada →

England and Wales

1 in 14,000

In England and Wales, 42 boys named Mac were born in 2025, the 782nd most common name among boys that year.

1996peak 2023

share of that year’s name registrations

Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales

See the full list for England and Wales →

South Australia

1 in 18,000 · 2017

In South Australia, 1 boy was registered as Mac in 2017.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.

Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names

See the full list for South Australia →

Brazil

1 in 500,000

At the 2022 census, 398 people in Brazil were named Mac, ranked 15,643rd, with a median age of 42.
Among people named Mac living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1970s than in any other decade.

1950speak 1970s2000s

people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth

People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022

See the full list for Brazil →

Austria

last on record 2013

Mac is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.

Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)

See the full list for Austria →

Ireland

last on record 2024

Mac is not on the 2025 record for Ireland, where names under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 7 in a year, too few to chart.

Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names

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Montevideo City

last on record 1994

Mac is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.

Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial

See the full list for Montevideo →

Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.

Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.

All records: the most popular baby names around the world →

Names that fit alongside Mac

Wylie Scotty Riley Carson Cam Dallas

Keep exploring

Short names · What is Mac short for? · Familiar but never popular

Name trails: explore connections from Mac →

The Mac deep dive

Written for you · $1.99 →

Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Mac truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Mac fits with your family’s names and surname.

Both reports, explained →

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