The McGregor surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 15,614 people carried this name — #2,333 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 18,900 people counted. That is up 4% from 14,969 in 2000.

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In Ireland’s birth registers, 1890

Ireland registered 16 births for the McGregor name in 1890.

They were registered in all four provinces, most of all in Ulster. By the Registrar-General’s own method — births multiplied by 44.38 — that is about 700 people bearing the name in Ireland at the time. 2 of them were indexed under other spellings of the name. The Registrar-General’s note on the name: “Londonderry.”

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

Where they were born, 1890

Ulster 11
Leinster 2
Munster 2
Connacht 1

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

26 people named McGregor live in Switzerland.

They live in 6 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Basel-Stadt.

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

Where they live today

Basel-Stadt 6
Geneva 5
Vaud 5
Valais 4
Lucerne 3
Zurich 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 Scotland, 1880s

McGregor was 28 in every 10,000 names in Scotland.

That is about 1 in 357. Its home there, in Guppy’s words: “Perthshire and Stirlingshire.” 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

McGregor was recorded 213 times in Scotland’s registers of births, marriages and deaths in 2025.

That made it the 91st most common name in those registers, shared with others on the same count. In 1975, the first year of the series, the count was 350. 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

38 families named McGregor, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 210 people lived in those households, 5.5 to a family on average. The table counts it together with 10 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 15
New York 6
Virginia 4
North Carolina 4
Maryland 3
South Carolina 3
Maine 1
Vermont 1
Massachusetts 1

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

McGregor in American newspapers,
1891–1929.

Newspaper page from The Washington Times carrying the name McGregor
The Washington Times 1907-09-01
Newspaper page from The Indian Leader carrying the name McGregor
The Indian Leader 1929-10-11
Newspaper page from New-york Tribune carrying the name McGregor
New-york Tribune 1891-12-06

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 4,264 pages in all carry the name.

In print

McGregor in Australian newspapers,
1820s–2010s.

109,774 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss McGregor. The most, 24,484, 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 34,522
Victoria 21,772
South Australia 18,639
Queensland 18,577
Western Australia 8,909
Tasmania 5,510
ACT (Canberra) 1,555
Northern Territory 75

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

Who carried it

People named McGregor,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Ken McGregor
    Ken McGregor 1929–2007 · tennis player
  • William McGregor
    William McGregor 1846–1911 · businessperson
  • Douglas McGregor 1906–1964 · social scientist

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0.

In the public record

People named McGregor,
in the records of 6 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 States2,534 records

2,534 records of the McGregor name in the United States
  • Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 675
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 494
  • Other U.S. records 1,365
  1. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Richard McGregor

    Born 1949; from Woodside, New York. U.S. Army, infantryman; killed in action 1967 in Binh Duong, South Vietnam. Buried at Long Island National Cemetery, New York.

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

    Born 1920 in Texas. Enlisted 1942 at Lubbock; farm hand from Carson County. U.S. Army Air Forces veteran of World War II; died 1944, buried at Baton Rouge National Cemetery, Louisiana.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  3. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record John McGregor

    Arrived at New York in 1885 aboard the Devonia from Glasgow and Moville, aged 21; mason. From Glasgow, Scotland; bound for New York.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)

Showing 3 of 2,534 records for McGregor in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · 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) · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0) · 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); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).

Australia4,277 records

4,277 records of the McGregor name in Australia
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 2,316
  • Victoria wills and probate, deaths to 2001 719
  • Other Australian records 1,242
  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 Margaret McGregor

    Transported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the Emma Eugenia, sailing from London in 1850. Native of Glasgow, Lanarkshire. Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1855.

    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 John McGregor

    Transported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the Surrey, sailing from London in 1842. Native of Hampshire. Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1848. Married 1848 in Brighton, Tasmania, aged 39.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Dougall McGregor

    Arrived in Victoria in 1857 aboard the Morning Light, aged 43; English.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 4,277 records for McGregor in Australia.

Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · City of Ballarat, Avenue of Honour Plaques (CC BY 3.0 AU) · ACT Government, Transport Canberra and City Services (CC BY 4.0) · State Library of Western Australia (CC BY 4.0). 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); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).

Canada974 records

974 records of the McGregor name in Canada
  • Nova Scotia Archives name indexes 630
  • Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver 111
  • Other Canadian records 233
  1. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record John McGregor

    Came to Ontario in 1874 aboard the Phonisian, bound for Sarnia, Ontario; Scotch.

    Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario.
  2. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Civil record Murdoch McGregor

    Killed in 1938 at the Princess Mine, Nova Scotia.

    Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia.
  3. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Enid Mary McGregor

    Buried in 1995 at Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, aged 89.

    Halifax Regional Municipality. Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax.

Showing 3 of 974 records for McGregor 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 Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg. · City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. · Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · City of Niagara Falls. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Niagara Falls. · Halifax Regional Municipality. Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax. · Contains information provided by the City of Waterloo under licence. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0); Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0).

United Kingdom596 records

596 records of the McGregor name in the United Kingdom
  • Stirling Council burial records 468
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 86
  • Other British records 42
  1. A First World War roll of honour of the staff of C. & E. Morton Ltd
    Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919
    War record Ian Lacy McGregor

    Born 1891 at Nairn; engineer. Died 1916. Named in the Morayshire roll of honour (1921).

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

    Buried in 1905 at Ballengeich Cemetery, Stirling, Scotland, aged 32.

    Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
  3. A petition to the probate court of St. Louis, 1848
    Example: probate petition, 1848
    Probate record Mary Ann McGregor

    Will proved in 1930; of Mold, Flint.

    National Library of Wales, Wills Index Cards (CC0)

Showing 3 of 596 records for McGregor 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) · 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); Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain).

New Zealand113 records

113 records of the McGregor name in New Zealand
  • Christchurch City cemetery records 75
  • Thames-Coromandel District cemetery records 26
  • Other New Zealand records 12
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Margaret McGregor

    Died 1963, aged 78; buried at Bromley 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 James McGregor

    Buried in 1898 at Buffalo Cemetery, Thames-Coromandel District, Waikato, aged 67.

    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 Jeffery Stephen McGregor

    Born 1961, died 2001; buried at Rangiora Lawn Cemetery, Canterbury.

    Waimakariri District Council (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 113 records for McGregor 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) · Waimakariri 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). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0).

Netherlands1 record

1 record of the McGregor name in the Netherlands Dutch civil registers (births, marriages, deaths)
  1. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Donald Webster Mc Gregor

    Married in 1945 in Rotterdam.

    Open Archives, Stadsarchief Rotterdam (CC BY 4.0)

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).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to McGregor.

When the index is not enough

This page says where McGregor 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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