John McCain III was born on August 29, 1936, at a United States Navy hospital at Coco Solo Naval Air Station in Panama Canal Zone, Panama, to Navy officer John S. "Jack" McCain, Jr. (1911–1981) and Roberta (Wright) McCain (1912– ). McCain is of Scots-Irish and English ancestry.

John McCain's grandparents were natives of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas, and much of his ancestry was Southern on both his mother's side and father's side. The McCain family's patrilineal ancestral home is in Mississippi's Carroll County; they owned and ran a 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) plantation in Teoc from 1848 until 1952.

John McCain's Family Tree