Madalyn
Feminine · “of Magdala”
Madalyn is one of the English spellings of Madeleine, a name that began as a description of a place — Magdala, a fishing village on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The g softened away in medieval French, leaving the three easy syllables the name still has, and this particular spelling has been on American records for generations rather than arriving with recent fashion.
How old is the name Madalyn?
Madalyn first appears in US birth records in 1899 — 126 years ago. The typical Madalyn alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 21,500 people named Madalyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Madalyn most popular?
Madalyn peaked in 2008, reaching #292 nationally. Today it ranks #946, 654 places below that high. See the whole 2008 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Magdala to Madalyn
The story of Madalyn
The Greek of the Gospels gives Μαγδαληνή, Magdalene, meaning a woman from Magdala; Latin took it as Magdalena, and it spread through medieval Europe as a saint's name. French speakers softened the g out of the middle, producing Madeleine, and English borrowed that as Madeline — after which English spelling did what it always does and produced Madelyn, Madalyn and several cousins. The word maudlin comes from the same source, by way of the weeping Magdalene of medieval painting and drama. Madalyn is the phonetic branch of that family: written the way an English speaker would sound it out.
Meaning
of Magdala, a town by the Sea of Galilee
The place name is usually connected to a Hebrew word for tower. The personal name reached Europe through Mary Magdalene of the Greek Gospels, where the second word is a description of where she came from rather than a family name.
How the name formed
- Magdala
- Magdalene
- Magdalena
- Madeleine
- Madalyn
Related forms: Madeleine · Magdalena · Maddalena · Magdalena · Magdalena · Magdolna
Pronouncing Madalyn
MAD-uh-lin
Stress on the first syllable. Some families say the last syllable closer to MAD-uh-line, matching the Madeline spelling; both are heard, so it is worth saying which you mean when you introduce her.
Nicknames for Madalyn
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1899
- Most girls named
- 2010883 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #292reached in 2008
- Change vs 2022
- +4.6%273 in 2025, from 261
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Madalyn in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Madeleine in French — same name
- Magdalena in Spanish — same name
- Maddalena in Italian — same name
- Magdalena in German — same name
- Magdalena in Polish — same name
- Magdolna in Hungarian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Ohio.
Madalyns among us
people named Madalyn are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 5,887 born in 2025 was named Madalyn
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Madalyn
- #946
- Madalyn on the 2025 chart
- #563
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Madalyn went to 273 girls in 2025, but Madalynn is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 434, which makes it the 563rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 383 places above the chart.
- Madalyn273
- Madalynn161
About 1 girl in 3,703 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 5,887 for Madalyn itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Rosalind test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Madalyn's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rosalind climbed just as high around 1942, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rosalind's path sketches the road Madalyn is walking now.
Madalyn 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Madalyn is headed
Madalyn should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Madalyn beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Madalyn in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Comes with Maddie already attached — a short form in continuous use, so no one has to invent one.
- Spelled the way it sounds in English, which makes it easy to read aloud on a first meeting.
- Sits in a family documented from the Greek Gospels onward, with living forms in French, Spanish, Italian, German and Polish.
- Long-established on American records rather than a recent coinage, and still given to babies now.
- The biggest practical cost is the spelling. Madeline, Madelyn, Madeleine and Madalyn all exist in the US, and this one is not the most common, so expect to spell it out for teachers, doctors and coffee cups for life.
- Maddie is shared territory. It also serves Madison, Madeline, Madelyn and Matilda, so the nickname is likely to be less distinctive than the full name.
- The English word maudlin descends from the same Magdalene root. Almost nobody makes the connection unprompted, but it is there if someone goes looking.
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What they receive
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Madalyn
Feminine · #946 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Madalyns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 21,500 people named Madalyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Madalyn?
- Madalyn is the most-used spelling in US records — 273 of the 434 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Madalynn.
- How popular is the name Madalyn in 2025?
- Madalyn ranks #946 among US girl names in 2025, with 273 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Madalyn?
- About 1 in every 5,887 US girls born in 2025 was named Madalyn — 273 in all.
- Will my child share the name Madalyn with classmates?
- Madalyn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Madalyn
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Sunday#946 · Sky#948 · Marcella#948 · Zaria#943 · Mariella#943 · Saanvi#943 · Sariah#950 · Zyla#950
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Madalyn? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Madalyn and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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