The McDonald surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 180,497 people carried this name — #143 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 1,630 people counted. That is up 3% from 176,094 in 2000.

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What the name means

The meaning of the McDonald surname

A common spelling variant of MacDonald, from Scottish Gaelic Mac Dhòmhnaill, equivalent to "son of Donald".

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «McDonald» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.

In Ireland’s birth registers, 1890

Ireland registered 191 births for the McDonald name in 1890.

They were registered in all four provinces, most of all in Leinster. By the Registrar-General’s own method — births multiplied by 44.38 — that is about 8,500 people bearing the name in Ireland at the time. 18 of them were indexed under other spellings of the name. The Registrar-General’s note on the name: “Dublin, Antrim, Cavan, Wexford, and Carlow.”

Where it concentrates, on the map

Where they were born, 1890

Leinster 89
Ulster 88
Munster 10
Connacht 4

Registrar-General for Ireland, «Special Report on Surnames in Ireland» (R. E. Matheson, 1894), births index of 1890 — public domain.

In Switzerland’s population statistics

41 people named McDonald live in Switzerland.

They live in 5 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Zurich.

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they live today

Zurich 18
Vaud 8
Geneva 7
Zug 5
Aargau 3

Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.

In the Nordic population registers

90 people named McDonald are counted in Sweden and Finland.

Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published. Finland counts its citizens, at home or abroad.

Counted, by country

Sweden (2022) 67
Finland (2026) 23

Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown) · Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV), Finland, surname statistics, August 2026 — CC BY 4.0.

In Scotland, 1880s

McDonald was 73 in every 10,000 names in Scotland.

That is about 1 in 137. Its home there, in Guppy’s words: “Inverness-shire.” He counted the more than 20,000 names in Halliburton’s County Directory of Scotland, taking Scotland as a whole, and listed only the names that reached 10 in every 10,000.

H. B. Guppy, «Homes of Family Names in Great Britain» (London, 1890), appendix: alphabetical list of the most frequent Scottish names, p. 591 — public domain · names in Halliburton’s County Directory of Scotland, per 10,000 for the whole country.

In Scotland’s registers today

McDonald was recorded 496 times in Scotland’s registers of births, marriages and deaths in 2025.

That made it the 25th most common name in those registers. In 1975, the first year of the series, the count was 827. Each birth counts the child’s surname, each marriage both partners’ and each death the surname of the person who died — a yearly count of registrations, not of the people who live in Scotland.

National Records of Scotland, «Most Common Surnames, 2025» (published 26 May 2026): every surname recorded 10 or more times in the 2025 registers, and the series from 1975 · different spellings are counted separately — © Crown copyright 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

In the first U.S. census, 1790

330 families named McDonald, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 1,621 people lived in those households, 4.9 to a family on average. The table counts it together with 14 other spellings. The table lists white heads of families only, in the twelve states whose 1790 records survive; Virginia’s figures come from state lists of 1782–1785.

Families, by state

Pennsylvania 96
North Carolina 65
New York 52
South Carolina 49
Maryland 21
Virginia 16
Maine 13
New Hampshire 7
Connecticut 5
Massachusetts 4
Rhode Island 2

U.S. Census Bureau, «A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900» (Washington, 1909), table 111, p. 252 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.

In print

McDonald in American newspapers,
1880–1910.

Newspaper page from Evening Star carrying the name McDonald
Evening Star 1880-08-09
Newspaper page from Democratic Messenger carrying the name McDonald
Democratic Messenger 1906-10-20
Newspaper page from The Gazette carrying the name McDonald
The Gazette 1910-01-29

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 1,213,188 pages in all carry the name.

In print

McDonald in Australian newspapers,
1810s–2010s.

525,536 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss McDonald. The most, 107,304, date from the 1930s. New South Wales has the most articles, but weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, the name stands out most in South Australia, at 1.5 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

New South Wales 177,885
Victoria 115,693
South Australia 86,608
Queensland 67,016
Western Australia 52,025
Tasmania 19,533
ACT (Canberra) 4,682
Northern Territory 1,347

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss McDonald.

Who carried it

People named McDonald,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Country Joe McDonald 1942–2026 · recording artist
  • Ian McDonald 1946–2022 · saxophonist

Wikidata (CC0).

In the public record

People named McDonald,
in the records of 8 countries.

Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.

United States28,880 records

28,880 records of the McDonald name in the United States
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 8,147
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 6,337
  • Other U.S. records 14,396
  1. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Clyde D. McDonald

    Born 1948; from Santa Ana, California. U.S. Marine Corps, rifleman; killed in action 1966 in Quang Nam, South Vietnam. Buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, California.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Jack McDonald

    Born 1930; from Clark County, Indiana. U.S. Army, heavy weapons infantryman; killed in action 1950 in South Korea. Buried at New Albany National Cemetery, Indiana.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  3. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Grant W. McDonald

    Born 1925 in Nevada. Enlisted 1943 at Salt Lake City, Utah; miner from Carbon County, Utah. U.S. Army Air Forces veteran of World War II; died 1997, buried at Valley View Cemetery, Sunnyside, Utah.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)

Showing 3 of 28,880 records for McDonald in the United States.

Counts: NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain) · City of Asheville (public domain, PDDL) · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0) · New York State, Open NY (police and firefighter memorial rolls) · Ramsey County, Minnesota (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain).

Canada25,087 records

25,087 records of the McDonald name in Canada
  • Nova Scotia Archives name indexes 23,439
  • Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver 519
  • Other Canadian records 1,129
  1. The first page of an emigration file from Gündlingen, Baden, 1883
    Example: German emigration file, 1883
    Emigration record Sarah McDonald

    Left New York in 1783 aboard the L'Abondence, bound for Port Roseway, aged 17.

    Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia.
  2. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Sarah McDonald

    Came to Ontario in 1877 aboard the Prussian, bound for Gravenhurst, Ontario; Scotch.

    Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario.
  3. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Duncan James McDonald

    Buried in 1986 at Queen's Park Cemetery, Calgary, Alberta, aged 88.

    City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary.

Showing 3 of 25,087 records for McDonald in Canada.

Counts: Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. · City of Vancouver. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. · Veterans Affairs Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. · City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. · City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. · Halifax Regional Municipality. Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax. · City of Niagara Falls. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Niagara Falls. · Contains information provided by the City of Waterloo under licence. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Emigration file, Gündlingen, 1883, Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Staatsarchiv Freiburg B 694/1 Nr. 1389 (CC BY 4.0); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0).

Australia20,387 records

20,387 records of the McDonald name in Australia
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 10,473
  • Victoria wills and probate, deaths to 2001 4,034
  • Other Australian records 5,880
  1. An 1829 etching of convicts being rowed out to the prison ship York in Portsmouth Harbour
    Pictured: convicts going on board a prison ship, 1829
    Transportation record Catherine McDonald

    Transported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the Sir Robert Seppings, sailing from Woolwich in 1852. Native of Inveraray, Argyllshire. Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1856. Married 1856 in Campbell Town, Tasmania.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  2. An 1829 etching of convicts being rowed out to the prison ship York in Portsmouth Harbour
    Pictured: convicts going on board a prison ship, 1829
    Transportation record Mary McDonald

    Transported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the Waverley, sailing from Dublin in 1842. Native of Cavan. Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1844. Married 1844 in Bothwell, Tasmania, aged 21.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  3. An 1829 etching of convicts being rowed out to the prison ship York in Portsmouth Harbour
    Pictured: convicts going on board a prison ship, 1829
    Transportation record Janet McDonald

    Transported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the Hector, sailing from Woolwich in 1835. Native of Edinburgh, Midlothian. Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1840.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 20,387 records for McDonald in Australia.

Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0) · Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · ACT Government, Transport Canberra and City Services (CC BY 4.0) · State Library of Western Australia (CC BY 4.0) · City of Ballarat, Avenue of Honour Plaques (CC BY 3.0 AU). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Prison-ship in Portsmouth Harbour, with the convicts going on board, etching by Edward William Cooke, 1829, Royal Museums Greenwich (public domain).

United Kingdom1,003 records

1,003 records of the McDonald name in the United Kingdom
  • Stirling Council burial records 520
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 276
  • Other British records 207
  1. A First World War roll of honour of the staff of C. & E. Morton Ltd
    Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919
    War record John Alexander McDonald

    Born 1890 at Huntly; farmer. Died 1917. Named in the Morayshire roll of honour (1921). Listed among the dead in the War Office casualty list of 1918 (Manitoba Regiment).

    National Library of Scotland, Rolls of Honour (public domain); National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain)
  2. A First World War roll of honour of the staff of C. & E. Morton Ltd
    Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919
    War record Harry John McDonald

    Born 1887 at Nether Borlum; farmer. Killed or died by 1921. Named in the Morayshire roll of honour (1921).

    National Library of Scotland, Rolls of Honour (public domain)
  3. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record David McDonald

    Died 1961, aged 53; buried at Bannockburn Cemetery, Stirling, Scotland.

    Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Showing 3 of 1,003 records for McDonald in the United Kingdom.

Counts: Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · National Library of Scotland, Rolls of Honour (public domain) · MOLA and HS2, St James's burial ground data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. · National Library of Wales, Wills Index Cards (CC0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: C. & E. Morton Ltd roll of honour, 1914–1919, photo by Adrian S Pye via Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0); Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0).

New Zealand405 records

405 records of the McDonald name in New Zealand
  • Christchurch City cemetery records 324
  • Thames-Coromandel District cemetery records 46
  • Other New Zealand records 35
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Joseph McDonald

    Died 1994, aged 74; buried at Memorial Park Cemetery, Christchurch, Canterbury.

    Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Albert Victor McDonald

    Buried in 1963 at Totara Memorial Park Cemetery, Thames-Coromandel District, Waikato, aged 65.

    Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Agnes Elizabeth McDonald

    Died 1976, aged 67; buried at Omaka Cemetery, Marlborough.

    Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 405 records for McDonald in New Zealand.

Counts: Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0) · Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0) · Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · Canterbury Maps (Environment Canterbury), Timaru and Mackenzie District Councils (CC BY 3.0 NZ) · Waimakariri District Council (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0).

Netherlands19 records

19 records of the McDonald name in the Netherlands
  • Dutch church registers before 1811 8
  • Dutch population registers 7
  • Dutch civil registers (births, marriages, deaths) 4
  1. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Dalton William Mc Donald

    Married in 1946 in Sneek; railway official.

    Open Archives, AlleFriezen (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record John McDonald

    Married in 1744 in Rotterdam; soldier.

    Open Archives, Stadsarchief Rotterdam (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 2 of 19 records for McDonald in the Netherlands.

Counts: Open Archives (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Marriage register, Tilburg, 1911, Regionaal Archief Tilburg (public domain).

France5 records

5 records of the McDonald name in France France's national death register, 1970–2001
  1. A page of the death register of Nice, 1930
    Example: French death register, 1930
    Death record Brian McDonald

    Born 1930 in Great Britain; died 1998 in Morzine (Haute-Savoie).

    Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)

Showing 1 of 5 records for McDonald in France.

Counts: Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Death register of Nice, 1930, Archives départementales des Alpes-Maritimes (public domain).

Ireland4 records

4 records of the McDonald name in Ireland County Galway graveyard records
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record J.a Mc Donald

    Died 1940, aged 26; buried at Renvyle, Co. Galway.

    Galway County Council (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 1 of 4 records for McDonald in Ireland.

Counts: Galway County Council (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to McDonald.

When the index is not enough

This page says where McDonald is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

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