McKelvy Surname

207,153rd
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 1,999 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
United States
Highest density in:
United States

McKelvy 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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McKelvy Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States1,9991:181,32018,109
Canada311:1,188,56786,017
Northern Ireland91:205,0049,958
Germany31:26,835,153452,368
England21:27,859,030389,889
Thailand21:35,319,172966,191
New Zealand11:4,528,32355,372
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Ireland601:73,8315,346
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Scotland91:415,91311,811
England41:6,093,842135,151
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States7441:67,4987,326

McKelvy 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)

(Celtic) Son of the Servant of the Dark (Man) [Irish and Gaelic Mac Giolla Dhubhthaich-mac, son + giolla, gille, servant: v. Duffy]

Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912) by Henry Harrison

McKelvy Last Name Facts

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

McKelvy is more frequently found in The United States than any other country or territory. It can appear as:. Click here for further potential spellings of this last name.

How Common Is The Last Name McKelvy? popularity and diffusion

The surname McKelvy is the 207,153rd most commonly occurring family name in the world It is held by around 1 in 3,645,596 people. The last name McKelvy occurs mostly in The Americas, where 94 percent of McKelvy live; 94 percent live in North America and 94 percent live in Anglo-North America.

The surname is most frequent in The United States, where it is held by 1,999 people, or 1 in 181,320. In The United States it is most common in: Texas, where 19 percent reside, Missouri, where 7 percent reside and Tennessee, where 7 percent reside. Without taking into account The United States this surname exists in 6 countries. It is also common in Canada, where 2 percent reside and Northern Ireland, where 0 percent reside.

McKelvy Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The prevalency of McKelvy has changed through the years. In The United States the number of people who held the McKelvy last name expanded 269 percent between 1880 and 2014 and in England it fell 50 percent between 1881 and 2014.

McKelvy Last Name Statistics demography

The religious devotion of those carrying the last name is primarily Catholic (78%) in Ireland.

In The United States those holding the McKelvy surname are 4.61% more likely to be registered with the Republican Party than The US average, with 51.38% being registered to vote for the political party.

The amount McKelvy earn in different countries varies marginally. In United States they earn 1.91% less than the national average, earning $42,325 USD per year and in Canada they earn 6.83% less than the national average, earning $46,292 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
McKelvey9310,975/
McElvy92289/
McKelvie803,476/
McKelway8071/
MacKelby800/
Mackeluey752/
MacKellve750/
McKellway750/
McAlvey71176/
McElway7124/
McElvie7113/
McElvee713/
Maklevy710/
MacLvoy710/
Maikelvi677/
MacLevey672/
Makielwy672/

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McKelvy Reference & Research

McKelvey FamilyTree DNA Project - A description of a group researching the paternal lines of men who bear the surname with the help of DNA analysis.

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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 McKelvy
  • 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