Mac
- Pronunciation
- [Mac]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Son Of
- Origin
- Celtic
About the Name Mac
Mac is a name of Celtic origin meaning "son of" — the very prefix that opens so many Scottish and Irish surnames, from MacDonald to MacKenzie. Lifted out of that patronymic tradition and used on its own, it makes for a punchy, friendly, single-syllable name with a rugged Celtic backbone and an unmistakably warm, casual charm. It belongs to the contemporary fashion for short, sturdy boys' names that feel both vintage and refreshingly direct.
The name's strength is its simplicity: short, dependable, and instantly likable, it carries a hint of old-fashioned masculinity while feeling thoroughly modern. It also works neatly as an affectionate short form of longer Mac- names, giving it extra versatility. Recorded variants include Mack and the affectionate Mackie, giving parents a little room to soften or sharpen the look while keeping that brisk, approachable sound.
Mac is a recent arrival to the rankings, first entering the US Social Security top-1000 for boys in 2019 and reaching its best rank of #605 in 2022. It remained strong in 2024 at #696, having stood at #656 in 2023, and across its short run it has been given to about 2,160 boys. As a fresh, no-nonsense pick with deep Celtic roots, Mac reflects the current taste for compact, characterful boys' names that pack plenty of warmth into a single syllable.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Mac
US Popularity History (2019–2025)
Annual US births named Mac by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2022 with 465 boys named Mac (boy rank #605 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #696 for boys (390 US births). That's 91 places below its 2022 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Mac Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Mac the strongest states are Connecticut, Utah, Nebraska.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Connecticut | #423 | 21 |
| 2 | Utah | #426 | 104 |
| 3 | Nebraska | #435 | 23 |
| 4 | Iowa | #474 | 45 |
| 5 | Oklahoma | #506 | 26 |
| 6 | Arkansas | #521 | 27 |
| 7 | Massachusetts | #528 | 95 |
| 8 | Kansas | #545 | 27 |
| 9 | Minnesota | #555 | 108 |
| 10 | Ohio | #567 | 144 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | #902 | 85 |
| 2 | California | #897 | 80 |
| 3 | Georgia | #828 | 69 |
| 4 | New York | #797 | 54 |
| 5 | North Carolina | #787 | 46 |
| 6 | Washington | #760 | 69 |
| 7 | Louisiana | #727 | 20 |
| 8 | Tennessee | #715 | 87 |
| 9 | Colorado | #707 | 44 |
| 10 | New Jersey | #698 | 39 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Mac in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mack | Son Of | Male | Celtic |
Looking for names like Mac?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Mac to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Mac against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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