About the MacNair Surname

Some records give McNair; others give MacNair. Both point to the same Scottish family name. Its meaning, shared with McNair, is “son of the heir”.

Heraldry and the MacNair name

There is no single MacNair family crest for every bearer. Herald Lab researches the arms historically associated with the name and explains whose they were.

A variant of McNair

Before spelling was fixed, McNair was also written MacNair. Spellings drifted because names were written down by ear in parish books, tax rolls and passenger lists. Other spellings include McNare.

The Census Bureau's 2010 surname file lists MacNair with 425 bearers, at rank 49,461. It sits among the 50,000 most common last names in the country. Get the complete MacNair report, with a museum-style coat of arms.