Head to head · Girls' names
Madelyn vs Maya
#70 vs #62 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Maya is a whisker ahead (#62 vs #70 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. 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, Maya leads 4 measures of 6; Madelyn leads 1.
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
- 1890s: Madelyn #871, Maya — — Madelyn higher
- 1900s: Madelyn #551, Maya — — Madelyn higher
- 1910s: Madelyn #412, Maya — — Madelyn higher
- 1920s: Madelyn #400, Maya — — Madelyn higher
- 1930s: Madelyn #518, Maya — — Madelyn higher
- 1940s: Madelyn #503, Maya #4264 — Madelyn higher
- 1950s: Madelyn #672, Maya #3682 — Madelyn higher
- 1960s: Madelyn #1006, Maya #1952 — Madelyn higher
- 1970s: Madelyn #1289, Maya #757 — Maya higher
- 1980s: Madelyn #1346, Maya #631 — Maya higher
- 1990s: Madelyn #419, Maya #257 — Maya higher
- 2000s: Madelyn #104, Maya #80 — Maya higher
- 2010s: Madelyn #68, Maya #66 — Maya higher
- 2020s: Madelyn #65, Maya #55 — Maya higher
Madelyn stood higher in 8 of 14 decades; Maya has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Madelyn | Maya |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | #871 | — |
| 1900s | #551 | — |
| 1910s | #412 | — |
| 1920s | #400 | — |
| 1930s | #518 | — |
| 1940s | #503 | #4264 |
| 1950s | #672 | #3682 |
| 1960s | #1006 | #1952 |
| 1970s | #1289 | #757 |
| 1980s | #1346 | #631 |
| 1990s | #419 | #257 |
| 2000s | #104 | #80 |
| 2010s | #68 | #66 |
| 2020s | #65 | #55 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Madelyn
Not charting outside the US.
Maya
- England & Wales#15
- Canada#16
- Scotland#20
- France#76
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Madelyn
Of Magdala — a town on the Sea of Galilee
Magdala is generally traced to a Semitic root for "tower", so the underlying sense is roughly "the tower place", but the name itself functions as a place reference rather than a word for tower.
Magdalene → Magdalena → Madeleine → Madeline → Madelyn
How it traveled
The line begins with Greek Magdalene in the New Testament, an epithet marking Mary as coming from Magdala. Latin turned it into Magdalena, and medieval French smoothed that into Madeleine, which English speakers borrowed and respelled as Madeline.
Maya
Depends on which road you follow: 'illusion' in Sanskrit, 'mother' or 'nurse' in Greek, 'water' in modern Hebrew
These are not rival guesses at one word but several distinct names that arrived at the same spelling. Sanskrit माया (māyā) is a philosophical term for the illusory surface of the world, and Māyā is also the name given in Buddhist tradition to the Buddha's mother. Greek Maia was the eldest of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes; the Roman Maia gave her name to the month of May. In Hebrew, Maya is generally connected to mayim, 'water'. Slavic Maja and Майя run alongside all of these.
How it traveled
The oldest written traces are the Sanskrit māyā of Hindu philosophy and the Greek Maia of the Pleiades, two unrelated words that happen to sound alike. Latin took Maia from Greek and attached her to the month of May, which is how the sound stayed alive in Europe long after the goddess faded.
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
Madelyn
MAD-uh-lin
Three syllables, stress on the first. The -lyn spelling exists precisely to head off the French-influenced MAD-uh-line or MAD-uh-leen you get with Madeleine, though someone who knows the French form may still reach for it once.
- Maddie — The everyday short form, used across the whole Madeline/Madelyn family and given as a standalone name in its own right.
- Maddy — Same short form, the alternative spelling; families usually pick one and stick with it.
- Mads — Informal, mostly among friends and siblings rather than adults.
- Lyn — Drawn from the ending instead of the beginning; less common, and also a given name on its own.
- Also Magda.
Maya
MY-ah
Two syllables, stress on the first. The Sanskrit original is closer to MAH-yah, and Polish or German Maja is pronounced the same way as English Maya. The main mix-up is with Mia (MEE-ah), a separate name.
- May — The most common short form in English, and a long-established given name in its own right.
- Mai — Same sound as May with a spelling closer to the parent name; also an independent name in Welsh, Vietnamese and Japanese.
- Mimi — A family-level pet form rather than a public one; used affectionately by some households, not something a teacher would reach for.
Who has carried each name
Madelyn
Madelyn Cline (b. 1997) — Outer Banks star
Maya
Maya Angelou (b. 1928) — Poet of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Lin (b. 1959) — Designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at age 21
Maya Rudolph (b. 1972) — SNL great and comedy star
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 Madelyn if you want…
- a name with more sound in itMadelyn runs 3 syllables, Maya 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Maddie, Maddy and Mads
Choose Maya if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesMaya is 2 syllables to Madelyn's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooMaya is on the national lists of England & Wales, Canada, Scotland and France
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
Madelyn
Strengths
- Maddie is a ready-made short form with a long track record, so the name works in both formal and casual registers without any effort.
- The spelling tells the reader the pronunciation, which the French Madeleine does not.
- A documented ancestry running from Greek through Latin and French into English — one continuous line rather than a guess.
To consider
- Madeline, Madelyn, Madilyn, Madalyn and Madeleine all coexist, so expect to spell it aloud fairly often and to see it written the other way on forms.
- Maddie is shared with Madison, Madeline and Madelyn alike, so the nickname is far more crowded than the full name is.
- The -lyn ending places it with a broad family of recent respellings; if you want the older, more European look on paper, Madeleine or Magdalena is the same name.
Maya
Strengths
- Short, phonetic and readable on sight in English, Spanish, German, Polish and Hebrew — few names travel that far without needing a spelling lesson.
To consider
- Mia, Maia, Maja and Mya all sit close by, so expect to spell it aloud now and then — the sound alone will not tell people which one you mean.
- The Sanskrit sense, 'illusion', is a philosophical term rather than a compliment, and anyone who knows it may mention it. The Greek and Hebrew readings are just as legitimate.
- Familiar without being everywhere: most people will have heard the name, and a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 Madelyn and Maya 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 Madelyn and Maya?
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 Madelyn and Maya — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Madelyn or Maya — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Madelyn or Maya?
- Maya, in 2025: Maya ranked #62 with 3,712 babies; Madelyn ranked #70 with 3,362 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Madelyn or Maya?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Madelyn moved down 4 places; Maya moved down 1 place.
- Which is the older name, Madelyn or Maya?
- Madelyn entered the US charts in 1890; Maya entered the US charts in 1940. On the American record, Madelyn is the older name.
- How many people are named Madelyn and Maya?
- About 107,000 people named Madelyn are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 122,000 people named Maya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Madelyns or Mayas in the classroom?
- Madelyn will almost certainly be the only one in school. Maya 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
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Madelyn, Maya and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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