Madalynn
Feminine · “of Magdala”
Madalynn is the American spelling of a name that began as a place: Magdala, a fishing town on the Sea of Galilee, remembered in the Gospels through Mary Magdalene. Centuries of travel turned that into French Madeleine and English Madeline, and this version swaps the ending for the -lynn that American parents have favored for generations. Four syllables that resolve into one easy nickname.
How old is the name Madalynn?
Madalynn first appears in US birth records in 1921 — 104 years ago. The typical Madalynn alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 9,200 people named Madalynn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Madalynn most popular?
Madalynn peaked in 2009, reaching #542 nationally. Today it ranks #1367, 825 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Magdala to Madalynn
The story of Madalynn
The line starts with the Greek Magdalēnē, meaning a woman of Magdala, and reached the wider world through the Gospel accounts of Mary Magdalene. Latin carried it into medieval Europe, where it softened into French Madeleine and Spanish and German Magdalena, and English speakers reshaped it again as Madeline and Madelyn. Madalynn belongs to the newest stretch of that road: an American respelling that keeps the familiar sound and rewrites the tail as -lynn, on the model of Lynn, Carolyn and Jocelyn. Most who carry it today are still school-aged or younger, and the shape of the name is now easing back from its high point.
Meaning
of Magdala — a town whose name is connected to the Semitic word for tower
The name identifies a person as coming from Magdala; the place name itself is generally traced to a root meaning tower.
How the name formed
- Magdala
- Magdalēnē
- Madeleine
- Madelyn
- Madalynn
Related forms: Madeleine · Magdalena · Maddalena · Madalena · Madelyn · Magdalene
Pronouncing Madalynn
MAD-uh-lin
Stress on the first syllable, with the middle vowel reduced almost to nothing. The final syllable is usually said -lin rather than rhyming with 'inn' stretched out, exactly as in Madeline and Madelyn.
Nicknames for Madalynn
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
- 1921
- Most girls named
- 2009557 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #542reached in 2009
- Change vs 2024
- −21.1%161 in 2025, from 204
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.
Madalynn in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Madeleine in French — related form
- Magdalena in Spanish — related form
- Maddalena in Italian — related form
- Madalena in Portuguese — related form
- Madelyn in English — spelling variant
- Magdalene in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Ohio, California.
Madalynns among us
people named Madalynn are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 9,983 born in 2025 was named Madalynn
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Madalynn
- #1367
- Madalynn on the 2025 chart
- #563
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Madalynn went to 161 girls in 2025, but Madalyn 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 — 804 places above the chart.
- Madalyn273
- Madalynn161
About 1 girl in 3,703 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 9,983 for Madalynn 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 Dayna test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Madalynn's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dayna climbed just as high around 1982, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dayna's path sketches the road Madalynn is walking now.
Madalynn 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 Madalynn is headed
Madalynn 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.
Madalynn beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Madalynn in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Says itself on sight: anyone who has met a Madeline or Madelyn will read it correctly on the first try.
- Comes with Maddie already built in — an established short form, no invention required.
- Traces back through French, Spanish, German and Italian versions of the same name to a first-century place name.
- Familiar in sound while staying uncommon in this spelling, so a classroom repeat is unlikely.
- The spelling will need saying out loud for life. Madeline, Madelyn, Madalyn, Madilyn and Madeleine all sound close to identical, and forms will often come back with the wrong one.
- The nickname is far more common than the full name. A Maddie may well share that name with a Madison or a Madeline in the same class, even if nobody else has her spelling.
- The -ynn ending places the name in a recognizable stretch of American spelling fashion, which is now easing back. The classic forms behind it — Madeline, Magdalena — carry no such marker.
- Both the fuller versions and this one point back to Mary Magdalene, a connection some families welcome and others would rather not foreground.
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What they receive
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Madalynn
Feminine · #1367 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Madalynns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 9,200 people named Madalynn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Madalynn?
- Madalynn is one of 2 recorded spellings. Madalyn is the more common one — 273 births in 2025 against 161 for Madalynn.
- How popular is the name Madalynn in 2025?
- Madalynn ranks #1367 among US girl names in 2025, with 161 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Madalynn?
- About 1 in every 9,983 US girls born in 2025 was named Madalynn — 161 in all.
- Will my child share the name Madalynn with classmates?
- Madalynn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Madalynn
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ayanna#1367 · Martina#1367 · Ameera#1367 · Petra#1367 · Lindsey#1367 · Cherish#1373 · Keylani#1373 · Asha#1373
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Madalynn? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Madalynn and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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