Head to head · Girls' names
Madilyn vs Monroe
#464 vs #467 in 2025
Madilyn is a whisker ahead (#464 vs #467 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Madilyn is stepping back from its peak, Monroe is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Monroe has the edge.
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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, Madilyn leads 5 measures of 6; Monroe 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
- 1920s: Madilyn #4002, Monroe #3436 — Monroe higher
- 1930s: Madilyn #3886, Monroe #3847 — Monroe higher
- 1940s: Madilyn #3676, Monroe — — Madilyn higher
- 1950s: Madilyn #5323, Monroe #4833 — Monroe higher
- 1970s: Madilyn #8800, Monroe — — Madilyn higher
- 1980s: Madilyn #5776, Monroe — — Madilyn higher
- 1990s: Madilyn #2064, Monroe #9280 — Madilyn higher
- 2000s: Madilyn #471, Monroe #6271 — Madilyn higher
- 2010s: Madilyn #319, Monroe #941 — Madilyn higher
- 2020s: Madilyn #370, Monroe #529 — Madilyn higher
Madilyn stood higher in 7 of 10 decades; Madilyn has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Madilyn | Monroe |
|---|---|---|
| 1920s | #4002 | #3436 |
| 1930s | #3886 | #3847 |
| 1940s | #3676 | — |
| 1950s | #5323 | #4833 |
| 1970s | #8800 | — |
| 1980s | #5776 | — |
| 1990s | #2064 | #9280 |
| 2000s | #471 | #6271 |
| 2010s | #319 | #941 |
| 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.
Monroe
'mouth of the River Roe' — a place name
The reading repeated most often traces it to Gaelic elements meaning the mouth of the Roe, a river in the north of Ireland, and matches Clan Munro's own traditional account of its origins. Other readings attach the first element instead to Gaelic monadh, 'hill' or 'moorland'. Either way it is landscape rather than character — a place a family came from.
Munro → Munroe → Monroe
How it traveled
Monroe is one of the anglicized spellings of the Scottish surname Munro, borne by a Highland clan documented from the thirteenth century in Easter Ross. Scottish and Ulster-Scots emigration carried the surname to North America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, where it settled into the spelling with an o.
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.
Monroe
mun-ROH
Stress falls on the second syllable. Some speakers reduce the first to 'mn-ROH'; the surname Munro is said the same way.
- Roe — Informal, drawn from the second syllable; also used as a standalone surname-name.
- Mo — Informal and short; shared with Maureen, Morgan and Mohammed, so rarely unambiguous on its own.
- Ro — Informal, mostly within families; sometimes written Roh or Rowe.
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
- a name with more sound in itMadilyn runs 3 syllables, Monroe 2
Choose Monroe if you want…
- a name on the way upup 74 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesMonroe is 2 syllables to Madilyn's 3
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.
Monroe
Strengths
- Americans already recognize the spelling from the presidential and Hollywood surnames, so it is usually written correctly on first hearing.
- Works unchanged for a boy or a girl, and needs no feminine or masculine variant.
- A documented clan name in Scotland since the thirteenth century — a long, traceable line behind a modern-sounding choice.
To consider
- Marilyn Monroe is the association most adults reach for first. It is affectionate rather than awkward, but it will come up, and it is worth deciding now whether you mind.
- Munro and Munroe are both live spellings, so expect a certain amount of correcting — usually of the vowel rather than the whole name.
- Most children given this spelling now are girls, so a boy named Monroe will occasionally be assumed female on paper before anyone meets him.
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 Monroe 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
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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
- Borrowed from the boys: names girls are winning
- Presidential surnames as first names
- Golden-age Hollywood names
- Surname names used up front
- all guides
Where Madilyn and Monroe each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Madilyn or Monroe — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Madilyn or Monroe?
- Madilyn, in 2025: Madilyn ranked #464 with 662 babies; Monroe ranked #467 with 658 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Madilyn or Monroe?
- Monroe. Over the last five years Madilyn moved down 138 places; Monroe moved up 74 places.
- Which is the older name, Madilyn or Monroe?
- Madilyn entered the US charts in 1924; Monroe entered the US charts in 1928. On the American record, Madilyn is the older name.
- How many people are named Madilyn and Monroe?
- About 23,500 people named Madilyn are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 7,200 people named Monroe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Madilyns or Monroes in the classroom?
- Madilyn will almost certainly be the only one in school. Monroe 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
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