Head to head · Girls' names
Madilyn vs Meredith
#464 vs #469 in 2025
Madilyn is a whisker ahead (#464 vs #469 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Madilyn is stepping back from its peak, Meredith is back after a long quiet spell. On momentum, Meredith has the edge.
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, Meredith leads 4 measures of 6; Madilyn 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
- 1890s: Madilyn —, Meredith #1426 — Meredith higher
- 1900s: Madilyn —, Meredith #1400 — Meredith higher
- 1910s: Madilyn —, Meredith #924 — Meredith higher
- 1920s: Madilyn #4002, Meredith #770 — Meredith higher
- 1930s: Madilyn #3886, Meredith #607 — Meredith higher
- 1940s: Madilyn #3676, Meredith #443 — Meredith higher
- 1950s: Madilyn #5323, Meredith #539 — Meredith higher
- 1960s: Madilyn —, Meredith #541 — Meredith higher
- 1970s: Madilyn #8800, Meredith #178 — Meredith higher
- 1980s: Madilyn #5776, Meredith #149 — Meredith higher
- 1990s: Madilyn #2064, Meredith #232 — Meredith higher
- 2000s: Madilyn #471, Meredith #362 — Meredith higher
- 2010s: Madilyn #319, Meredith #586 — Madilyn higher
- 2020s: Madilyn #370, Meredith #529 — Madilyn higher
Meredith stood higher in 12 of 14 decades; Madilyn has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Madilyn | Meredith |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | — | #1426 |
| 1900s | — | #1400 |
| 1910s | — | #924 |
| 1920s | #4002 | #770 |
| 1930s | #3886 | #607 |
| 1940s | #3676 | #443 |
| 1950s | #5323 | #539 |
| 1960s | — | #541 |
| 1970s | #8800 | #178 |
| 1980s | #5776 | #149 |
| 1990s | #2064 | #232 |
| 2000s | #471 | #362 |
| 2010s | #319 | #586 |
| 2020s | #370 | #529 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Madilyn
of Magdala — a village by the Sea of Galilee
Magdala's own name is traced to a Semitic root meaning tower, so the fuller reading often given is 'woman of the tower town'. The name reaches English through Mary Magdalene of the Gospels, whose byname simply marked where she was from.
Magdalēnē → Magdalena → Madeleine → Madelyn → Madilyn
How it traveled
The Greek of the New Testament gives Magdalēnē, an epithet rather than a name: the woman from Magdala. Latin carried it into medieval Europe, where it became Madeleine in French and, in English mouths, was worn down to Maudlin — which is why Magdalen College at Oxford is still said that way.
Meredith
Not established
The second element is generally read as iudd, a lord, which is well attested in Welsh names. The first is not agreed: proposals include a word for great or splendor, and none is demonstrated. Great lord is the usual gloss and it is a reconstruction of half a name. Meredith is the English spelling of Maredudd, and the surname form is Meredydd or Bedward in various renderings; the given name in English use descends from the surname.
Maredudd → Meredydd → Meredith
How it traveled
A men's name crosses to women by a fairly reliable route: it becomes a surname, the surname gets used as a first name for boys, it sounds soft enough to be given to a girl once, and once it is common for girls it stops being given to boys entirely. Meredith is a textbook case, and the crossing happened in America between the nineteen-twenties and the nineteen-fifties.
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
Madilyn
MAD-uh-lin
Three syllables, stress on the first, with the middle vowel reduced — the same in speech as Madeline and Madelyn. Some families say the last syllable closer to MAD-uh-lyn, and both pass without comment.
- Maddie — The everyday short form, shared across the whole Madeleine family; widely used on its own in speech and often on paperwork too.
- Madi — Spelling of the same nickname that echoes the -i- of the full name; common in writing among younger bearers.
- Mads — Clipped, informal, mostly friends-and-siblings territory.
- Lyn — Drawn from the ending rather than the beginning; less common, and a standalone given name in its own right.
Meredith
MAIR-uh-dith
MAIR-uh-dith, three syllables, stress at the front, the middle reduced. Welsh Maredudd puts the weight on the middle syllable and ends in a sound English does not have, so the two versions are audibly different names.
- Merry — The front softened, which lands on an English word and is used knowingly.
- Edie — Built from the middle and the end, and a standing name of its own.
- Mer — The front clipped, short and used among friends rather than on paper.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Madilyn if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsMadilyn is stepping back from its peak
Choose Meredith if you want…
- a name on the way upup 116 places on the charts in five years
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
Madilyn
Strengths
- The spelling is phonetic: most Americans read it correctly the first time, without a pause.
- Maddie comes ready-made — an established short form with a long record behind it, not something you have to invent.
- The name family exists in nearly every European language, so relatives abroad will have a version they already know.
To consider
- Madelyn, Madeline, Madilynn and Madeleine are all in circulation, so this exact spelling will be asked about and corrected fairly often across a lifetime.
- Maddie is shared with Madison, Madelyn, Madeleine and Matilda. Even as the only Madilyn in a school, she may not be the only Maddie.
- Phonetic respellings like this one belong recognizably to a recent stretch of American naming, and the name has begun easing down from its high point — it will read as belonging to a particular era rather than to no era at all.
Meredith
Strengths
- It has a documented thousand-year history as a Welsh princely name.
- Merry, Mer and Edie are three short forms in three quite different registers.
- Three syllables with a firm front stress, which carries a short surname well.
To consider
- In Wales this is a man's name, and Welsh speakers will read it that way whatever an American form says.
- The meaning is only half recoverable, so any gloss offered is a reconstruction.
- It is strongly associated with the middle of the last century in America.
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 Madilyn and Meredith 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 Madilyn and Meredith?
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 head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
Where Madilyn and Meredith each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Madilyn or Meredith — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Madilyn or Meredith?
- Madilyn, in 2025: Madilyn ranked #464 with 662 babies; Meredith ranked #469 with 656 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Madilyn or Meredith?
- Meredith. Over the last five years Madilyn moved down 138 places; Meredith moved up 116 places.
- Which is the older name, Madilyn or Meredith?
- Madilyn entered the US charts in 1924; Meredith entered the US charts in 1895. On the American record, Meredith is the older name.
- How many people are named Madilyn and Meredith?
- About 23,500 people named Madilyn are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 72,000 people named Meredith are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Madilyns or Merediths in the classroom?
- Madilyn will almost certainly be the only one in school. Meredith will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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