A Scottish and Irish surname, McKee comes from the Gaelic term ‘aodh’ which meant fire. The spelling variations for McKee include Kee, McCay, McGee, McEa, MacKee, MacCoy, McQuey, McKay and McAy. In England McKee families primarily lived in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire counties. In Ireland the McKee surname has been popular in Ulster, Armagh, Donegal, Antrim and Down counties. In Scotland the McKee family name is across most of the country. The areas with the greatest McKee population is Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and Ayrshire. Within the United States the McKee families originated in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, California, Washington and Texas. Famous: Rogers H. McKee (professional baseball player), Frances McKee (songwriter and singer from Scotland), Gina McKee (actress from England), Roxanne McKee (English actress), David McKee (English author of children’s books), Kenneth McKee (pioneer in the development of the hip replacement), Andrew I. McKee (pioneer in the designing of submarines), Frank McKee (Scottish footballer) and Bonnie L. McKee (singer and songwriter).