Recorded 1890–2025 · United States
Mckinley was most popular in 2014, when 934 American babies were given the name — ranking #704 that year. In 2025 it ranked #1,317, with 423 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 22,884 people named Mckinley.
Mckinley first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1890, which makes it about 135 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 136 of the 136 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 22,884 American births named Mckinley between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 18,086 are estimated to be alive today.
423 American babies were named Mckinley in 2025, ranking #1,317 that year.
Mckinley is falling. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 492 births a year, against 850 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -42% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Mckinley is a unisex name — 57.2% of the 22,884 Americans given it were girls and 42.8% were boys. It changed hands: since 1998 it has gone mainly to girls, having gone mainly to boys before that. In births since 2016 it is 91% girls and 9% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 18,086 Americans named Mckinley are alive today — 79% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 14 years old, and half are between 9 and 25.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Mckinley on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org