Head to head · Girls' names
Madisson vs Marley
#319 vs #322 in 2025
Madisson is a whisker ahead (#319 vs #322 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Madisson is climbing the charts fast, Marley is stepping back from its peak.
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
The tape is even: Madisson and Marley each lead 3 measures of 6.
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
- 1930s: Madisson —, Marley #3824 — Marley higher
- 1940s: Madisson —, Marley #4632 — Marley higher
- 1950s: Madisson —, Marley #4990 — Marley higher
- 1960s: Madisson —, Marley #5744 — Marley higher
- 1970s: Madisson —, Marley #4985 — Marley higher
- 1980s: Madisson #10847, Marley #2663 — Marley higher
- 1990s: Madisson #4787, Marley #1019 — Marley higher
- 2000s: Madisson #3377, Marley #458 — Marley higher
- 2010s: Madisson #4507, Marley #226 — Marley higher
- 2020s: Madisson #1677, Marley #266 — Marley higher
Marley stood higher in every recorded decade — 10 of 10.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Madisson | Marley |
|---|---|---|
| 1930s | — | #3824 |
| 1940s | — | #4632 |
| 1950s | — | #4990 |
| 1960s | — | #5744 |
| 1970s | — | #4985 |
| 1980s | #10847 | #2663 |
| 1990s | #4787 | #1019 |
| 2000s | #3377 | #458 |
| 2010s | #4507 | #226 |
| 2020s | #1677 | #266 |
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
Madisson
"son of Madde" — that is, son of Maud or of Magdalen
The surname is a patronymic built on Madde or Maddy, a medieval English pet form. Which name Madde stood for is the open question: most readings take it from Maud (itself from Matilda, "mighty in battle"), others from Magdalen. Either way the literal sense is "Madde's son," which sits oddly on a girl's name and has bothered nobody in forty years.
Matilda → Maud → Madde → Madison → Madisson
How it traveled
Madison began as an English surname, formed the ordinary medieval way by adding -son to a woman's pet name. It crossed to America as a family name and became famous there through the fourth president, James Madison, which is why nineteenth-century American boys occasionally carried it as a first name.
Marley
'clearing' or 'woodland meadow', with a disputed first element
The second half is not in doubt: Old English lēah, a clearing or woodland glade, sits at the end of hundreds of English place names. The first half differs by village — readings include gemǣre, 'boundary', and mearþ, 'marten', giving 'boundary clearing' or 'marten wood'. Several separate places named Marley fed the same surname, so more than one origin is genuinely in play.
lēah (Old English: woodland clearing) → Marley (English place name, Kent, Devon and Yorkshire) → Marley (English surname) → Marley (given name)
How it traveled
English place names came first, then the surname formed from them in the ordinary medieval way — a family known by where they had lived. It stayed a surname for centuries, familiar enough to English readers that Dickens could hang a ghost on it in A Christmas Carol in 1843, and later carried worldwide by the Jamaican musician Bob Marley.
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
Madisson
MAD-i-sun
Stress on the first syllable. The doubled s changes nothing about the sound — it is said exactly as Madison is.
- Maddie — The default informal form; also given as a full name in its own right, and shared with Madeline and Matilda.
- Maddy — Same short form, the other common spelling — families tend to pick one and stick with it.
- Madi — Informal, and the spelling most often seen in writing among younger bearers.
- Mads — Casual, one syllable, common among friends and teammates.
- Also Sonny.
Marley
MAR-lee
Stress on the first syllable. Nearly always said the same way on both sides of the Atlantic; the only real friction is spelling, not sound.
- Mar — The simplest clip, used at home more than in writing.
- Marls — Informal, friend-to-friend; common among younger speakers.
- Lee — Takes the back half instead of the front, and stands on its own as a given name for both men and women.
- Mars — A playful stretch of the first syllable, strictly informal.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Madisson if you want…
- a name on the way upup 2,455 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itMadisson runs 3 syllables, Marley 2
- a name that feels very nowMadisson is climbing the charts fast
Choose Marley if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsMarley is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesMarley is 2 syllables to Madisson's 3
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 67% for Madisson
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
Madisson
Strengths
- Reads correctly on sight anywhere in the English-speaking world, because the underlying name is thoroughly familiar.
- Comes with short forms already in circulation — Maddie, Maddy, Madi — none of which need explaining.
- Works as a surname-style name, which sits easily on a résumé, a byline or a nameplate.
To consider
- The world will default to Madison. Expect a lifetime of correcting one letter — on forms, in emails, on coffee cups. Many families decide that trade is worth the distinctiveness; some decide it isn't.
- The spelling is rare but the sound is not. A Madisson may still meet several Madisons, and will share Maddie with them.
- As a given name it is genuinely recent — a few decades, not a few centuries. If you want a name with deep family or historical roots, the surname is old but the first-name tradition is young.
Marley
Strengths
- The pronunciation is obvious on sight — nobody hesitates over it, in English or in most other languages.
- A spelling the world already knows from a famous surname, so it is rarely questioned as a name.
- Works unchanged for a boy or a girl, with no separate masculine or feminine form to choose between.
To consider
- Marlee, Marleigh and Marly all exist and all sound identical, so expect to spell it aloud fairly often — this is the mild, lifelong kind of nuisance rather than a real problem.
- Bob Marley is the first association for many people, which some parents want and others do not. It reads as homage on a child whose family has a connection, and as coincidence otherwise.
- The dog in Marley & Me left a mark, and a few people will mention it. It fades quickly once there is an actual child attached to the name.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Madisson
67%chance Madisson feels dated by 2040
Madisson is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Marley
40%chance Marley feels dated by 2040
Marley sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
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 Madisson and Marley 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 Madisson and Marley?
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 Madisson and Marley — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Madisson or Marley — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Madisson or Marley?
- Madisson, in 2025: Madisson ranked #319 with 958 babies; Marley ranked #322 with 950 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Madisson or Marley?
- Madisson. Over the last five years Madisson moved up 2,455 places; Marley moved down 111 places.
- Which is the older name, Madisson or Marley?
- Madisson entered the US charts in 1989; Marley entered the US charts in 1937. On the American record, Marley is the older name.
- How many people are named Madisson and Marley?
- About 2,700 people named Madisson are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 33,000 people named Marley are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Madissons or Marleys in the classroom?
- Madisson will almost certainly be the only one in school. Marley 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
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Madisson, Marley and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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