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I live in the USA, so I have never heard of the name other than Culkin. Even without the association, I think the name has a very unappealing sound to it.

It seems that the original form is actually Macauley. I think the Macaulay spelling is EXTREMELY associated with Macaulay Culkin. I would choose the Macauley spelling. It looks nice! I have no clue about the early 90's popularity thing.

Culkin is the first thing I think of when I hear Macaulay.

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I also think of Thomas Babington Macaulay, the guy who introduced English to education in India. I personally think he's a worse association since, like most colonial officials, he was very disrespectful towards the local culture and tried to replace it with Western culture.

I'm in England and had no idea it once reached the top 100! I've never come across one. I'm currently watching re-runs of Soldier Soldier from the early '90s and Dave and Donna's baby is called Macaulay. According to the book I have about the series he was named after Macaulay Culkin.

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I don't mind the sound although I'm not really into surnames as first names. Not sure which spelling I prefer possibly the ey ending. I definitely do think of Macaulay Culkin but that's because he's the only real-life one I've come across.

I adore it. It’s made a few appearances in my top 10 throughout the years. I prefer the Macauley spelling

I think that in the US, most people's first and maybe only exposure to the first name Macaulay is Culkin. I know that was the case for me, and I cannot hear the name without also hearing that kid's weird lateral lisp "He'zh zhush being a zherk!"

We talked about Macualay when we were pregnant with our third. My husband was adamant that is was too associated with Macaulay Culkin, so we explored other Mac- names instead:

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Mackenzie
Mackinlay
Malcolm
Cormac
Mack

As an American who grew up in the 90s, Macaulay Culkin is just the only association that comes to mind for me. Not saying that I think the connection makes it unusable, but it definitely does bring one specific person to mind.

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I’m personally not a fan of it because it’s a surname, but there are definitely worse names out there. It just isn’t my style.

I think it's funny it can mean "son of ancestor's descendant" (seems redundant).

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NMS but it sounds okay. Reminds me of other Mac names.
I prefer Macaulay. I'm pretty sure neither is the original spelling.

I'm quite surprised by that too! But in the UK it's completely associated with Macaulay Culkin - it wasn't used as a first name at all before the Home Alone films, with any spelling. There were a handful of uses from 1991-92, which increased through 1993-5 and seem to have peaked in 1996 when Macauley hit the top 100, and then started to drop.
Macauly, Macaully and Macaulee were also used, and a few girls were given it, too.

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It's nmsaa. Celebrity names and non-family surnames as first names are not my thing.

I actually did a post about Macaulay / Macauley on what used to be my primary blog a year ago where I attempted to find out what caused the name to spike in 1995 (I had to use other data for that). You can read more on: https://maybeitisdaijirou.wordpress.com/2017/07/15/the-1995-british-macaulaey-spike/

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To the other questions, right now, I'm a bit iffy on that name, but I would prefer the 'e' spelling over the 'a', mainly because I do feel that Macaulay is a bit too associated with the actor.

I prefer mcaulay

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Because it was my paternal great grandmother's maiden name