McKelvay Surname

4,532,898th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 19 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
United States
Highest density in:
Wales

McKelvay Surname Definition:

MACKELVIE, Mackelvey, Mackelvy, Mackilvie: Gaelic Mac Shealbhaigh, 'Selbach's son.' Sealbhach mac Shealbhaich is the hero in the tale of the Balieveolan Glassrig (Macdougall, Folk tales and fairy lore, 1910, p. 216). Morice Macsalny of Dumfriesshire rendered homage, 1296.

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McKelvay Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States101:36,245,893832,629
Wales91:343,83718,086
Canada21:18,422,796409,488
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Ireland11:4,429,86640,727
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Wales91:174,2686,522
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States71:7,174,098302,835

McKelvay Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

MACKELVIE, Mackelvey, Mackelvy, Mackilvie: Gaelic Mac Shealbhaigh, 'Selbach's son.' Sealbhach mac Shealbhaich is the hero in the tale of the Balieveolan Glassrig (Macdougall, Folk tales and fairy lore, 1910, p. 216). Morice Macsalny of Dumfriesshire rendered homage, 1296. His seal bears a hunting horn stringed, S' Morid f' salni (Bain, II, p. 210,557). In 1300 we have record of an allowance to Mathew, son of Maurice Make Salui, a Galloway hostage (ibid., 1179; Hist. Docs., II, p. 426). Robert M'Kelvie in office-croft in Tongueland, 1736 (Kirkcudbright), and Andrew M'Kelvie was barn-officer of the earl of Stair, 1744 (Wigtown). In 1684 the name appears (Parish) as McKelvie, Mcllvey, Mclwie, McKelway, Kelvie (Kelvy).

The Surnames of Scotland (1946) by George Fraser Black (1866-1948)

McKelvay Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name McKelvay Come From? nationality or country of origin

The surname McKelvay is found most frequently in The United States. It may appear as a variant:. Click here to see other possible spellings of this name.

How Common Is The Last Name McKelvay? popularity and diffusion

The surname is the 4,532,898th most commonly used last name internationally, borne by approximately 1 in 383,555,048 people. McKelvay is predominantly found in The Americas, where 63 percent of McKelvay are found; 63 percent are found in North America and 63 percent are found in Anglo-North America.

This surname is most frequently occurring in The United States, where it is borne by 10 people, or 1 in 36,245,893. In The United States it is mostly concentrated in: New York, where 60 percent live, Florida, where 30 percent live and Texas, where 10 percent live. Beside The United States McKelvay is found in 2 countries. It also occurs in Wales, where 47 percent live and Canada, where 11 percent live.

McKelvay Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The frequency of McKelvay has changed through the years. In The United States the number of people who held the McKelvay last name grew 143 percent between 1880 and 2014.

McKelvay Last Name Statistics demography

The religious devotion of those carrying the last name is chiefly Anglican (100%) in Ireland.

Phonetically Similar Names

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Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to McKelvay
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis