Head to head · Girls' names
Madeline vs Maria
#81 vs #87 in 2025 · both back after a long quiet spell
Madeline is a whisker ahead (#81 vs #87 in 2025) and both are back after a long quiet spell. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Maria leads 3 measures of 6; Madeline leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Madeline #314, Maria #137 — Maria higher
- 1890s: Madeline #182, Maria #149 — Maria higher
- 1900s: Madeline #146, Maria #143 — Maria higher
- 1910s: Madeline #129, Maria #140 — Madeline higher
- 1920s: Madeline #154, Maria #119 — Maria higher
- 1930s: Madeline #209, Maria #116 — Maria higher
- 1940s: Madeline #220, Maria #90 — Maria higher
- 1950s: Madeline #346, Maria #69 — Maria higher
- 1960s: Madeline #446, Maria #46 — Maria higher
- 1970s: Madeline #611, Maria #34 — Maria higher
- 1980s: Madeline #494, Maria #48 — Maria higher
- 1990s: Madeline #103, Maria #43 — Maria higher
- 2000s: Madeline #61, Maria #48 — Maria higher
- 2010s: Madeline #92, Maria #106 — Madeline higher
- 2020s: Madeline #93, Maria #91 — Maria higher
Maria stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Maria took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Madeline | Maria |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #314 | #137 |
| 1890s | #182 | #149 |
| 1900s | #146 | #143 |
| 1910s | #129 | #140 |
| 1920s | #154 | #119 |
| 1930s | #209 | #116 |
| 1940s | #220 | #90 |
| 1950s | #346 | #69 |
| 1960s | #446 | #46 |
| 1970s | #611 | #34 |
| 1980s | #494 | #48 |
| 1990s | #103 | #43 |
| 2000s | #61 | #48 |
| 2010s | #92 | #106 |
| 2020s | #93 | #91 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Madeline
Not charting outside the US.
Maria
- France#60
- Canada#72
- England & Wales#91
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Madeline
from Magdala, a town on the Sea of Galilee
The name is a byname turned given name: Magdalene meant 'the woman from Magdala'. The place name itself is generally traced to a Hebrew and Aramaic root meaning 'tower'.
Magdala → Magdalēnē → Magdalena → Madeleine → Madeline
How it traveled
The name begins as a description rather than a name. Greek translators of the Christian scriptures rendered the Aramaic byname of Mary of Magdala as Magdalēnē, and Latin carried it on as Magdalena.
Maria
Uncertain; the leading readings are 'beloved' and 'bitter'
Maria descends from Hebrew Miryam, whose origin was already unclear to ancient commentators. Some scholars trace it to Egyptian mry, 'beloved', which fits a name borne in a period of Egyptian influence; an older tradition read it through Hebrew mar, 'bitter'. The familiar 'star of the sea' gloss comes from a medieval Latin reading of the name as stella maris and is not an etymology of the Hebrew.
Miryam → Mariam → Maria → Marie → Mary
How it traveled
The name begins as Miryam in the Hebrew Bible, borne by the sister of Moses. When Jewish scholars in Alexandria translated those scriptures into Greek, they wrote it Mariam, and Greek and Latin writers settled on Maria — the spelling the Latin New Testament carried into every corner of the Roman world.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Madeline
MAD-uh-lin
Also said MAD-uh-line, with the last syllable rhyming with 'line'. Both are established in the United States, so expect to state your preference now and then. The French Madeleine is mad-uh-LEN.
- Maddie — By far the most common short form in American use; also given as a standalone name, and shared with Madison, Madelyn and Matilda.
- Maddy — The same nickname, spelled the other way; families tend to pick one and keep it.
- Mads — Informal and clipped, mostly among friends and siblings rather than adults.
- Lena — Drawn from the Magdalena end of the family; used more in continental Europe than in the US, and a full name in its own right.
- Also Made.
Maria
muh-REE-uh
Spanish and Italian speakers say mah-REE-ah, with a cleaner first vowel and a trilled or tapped r. An older English pronunciation, muh-RY-uh, survives in some hymn and song traditions and in a few families, so it is worth stating your preference once and letting it settle.
- Mia — Informal short form and, for a long time now, a fully independent given name in its own right.
- Ria — Informal; common in Dutch, German and Indonesian usage, and used on its own as a given name in several countries.
- Mari — Informal in English-speaking families; a standard given name in Welsh, Norwegian and Japanese, where it has separate roots.
- Masha — The standard Russian familiar form of Mariya, used within families and among friends rather than formally.
- Also Maruja, Mimi.
Who has carried each name
Madeline
Madeline Kahn (b. 1942) — Comic genius of Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein
Madeline Miller (b. 1978) — Wrote Circe and The Song of Achilles
Maria
Maria Montessori (b. 1870) — Physician who created the Montessori method of education
Maria Callas (b. 1923) — The century's most famous opera diva
Maria Goeppert Mayer (b. 1906) — Nobel Prize-winning physicist
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Madeline if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Madeline from Maria.
Choose Maria if you want…
- a name that charts abroad tooMaria is on the national lists of France, Canada and England & Wales
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Madeline
Strengths
- A spelling almost everyone can read on sight, even where the -lyn and -leine variants compete.
- An unbroken record in American name statistics from the earliest years of the data to the present, with no long gap.
- Maddie is instantly understood as its short form, so a formal name and a casual one come together.
To consider
- Two pronunciations circulate, MAD-uh-lin and MAD-uh-line. Neither is wrong, which means correcting people is a lifelong small errand.
- Maddie is a busy nickname, shared with Madison, Madelyn and Matilda. Any given classroom may hold several Maddies and only one Madeline.
- Madeleine, Madelyn, Madalyn and Madilyn all sound alike, so the spelling will be asked for and sometimes still guessed wrong.
Maria
Strengths
- Spelled the same way in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and German — no explaining, no correcting, in most of the languages a family is likely to meet.
- Currently charts in France, Canada and England and Wales as well as the United States, so it travels without becoming a foreign name anywhere.
- Two thousand years of unbroken written use, and it still turns up on class lists — long history without feeling like a costume.
To consider
- Two pronunciations circulate in English, muh-REE-uh and the older muh-RY-uh. Most people will default to the first, but expect to correct the occasional stranger either way.
- The link to the Virgin Mary is direct and unmistakable, which many families want and some would rather avoid. It is not a connotation the name can shed.
- In Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking families the name is so widespread, often in compounds like María José, that there may already be a Maria or two among the relatives.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Madeline
30%chance Madeline feels dated by 2040
Madeline is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
Maria
12%chance Maria feels dated by 2040
Maria has held the top-100 across 8 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Madeline and Maria in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Madeline and Maria?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Madeline and Maria — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Madeline or Maria — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Madeline or Maria?
- Madeline, in 2025: Madeline ranked #81 with 3,086 babies; Maria ranked #87 with 2,887 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Madeline or Maria?
- Maria. Over the last five years Madeline moved up 15 places; Maria moved up 22 places.
- Which is the older name, Madeline or Maria?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Madeline and Maria?
- About 160,000 people named Madeline are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 470,000 people named Maria are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Madelines or Marias in the classroom?
- Madeline will almost certainly be the only one in school. Maria will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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