Where Does the McCrae Surname Come From?

McCrae is an established spelling of the Scottish surname McRae. The family name meaning is “son of grace”, the same as for McRae. The extra “c” in McCrae is a spelling habit rather than a different name. Other spellings include Macrae and McRay.

The 2010 census count for McCrae in the United States was 2,754, good for rank 11,436. That puts it among the top 25,000 US surnames. Similar-sounding surnames on Herald Lab: McCray.

A coat of arms belongs to a particular family line rather than to everyone named McCrae, so the heraldry linked to McRae is a starting point, not an automatic right. Want more than a summary? See the McCrae family name pack.