Madilyn
Feminine · “of Magdala”
Madilyn is one of the American respellings of Madeline, a name whose line runs back through French Madeleine to Magdalene — the woman of Magdala, a fishing village on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Written this way, it tells a reader exactly how to say it, and it arrives with Maddie already attached, a short form the whole Madeleine family has shared for generations.
How old is the name Madilyn?
Madilyn first appears in US birth records in 1924 — 101 years ago. The typical Madilyn alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 23,500 people named Madilyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Madilyn most popular?
Madilyn peaked in 2012, reaching #287 nationally. Today it ranks #464, 177 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Magdalēnē to Madilyn
The story of Madilyn
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. English speakers later restored the French spelling as Madeline, then wrote it as they actually said it: Madelyn, Madilyn, Madilynn. Madilyn belongs to that phonetic branch, an American way of writing a very old name.
Meaning
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.
How the name formed
- Magdalēnē
- Magdalena
- Madeleine
- Madelyn
- Madilyn
Related forms: Madeleine · Magdalena · Maddalena · Magdalena · Madeline · Malin
Pronouncing 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.
Nicknames for Madilyn
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
- 1924
- Most girls named
- 20081,169 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #287reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- −10.7%662 in 2025, from 741
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.
Madilyn 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
- Madeline in English — spelling variant
- Malin in Swedish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Madilyns among us
people named Madilyn are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 2,428 born in 2025 was named Madilyn
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Madilyn
- #464
- Madilyn on the 2025 chart
- #308
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Madilyn went to 662 girls in 2025, but Madilynn, Maddilyn and Maddilynn are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 1,020, which makes it the 308th most-given girls’ name of the year — 156 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 1,576 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 2,428 for Madilyn 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 Lakeisha test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Madilyn's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lakeisha climbed just as high around 1978, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lakeisha's path sketches the road Madilyn is walking now.
Madilyn 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 Madilyn is headed
Madilyn 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.
Madilyn beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Madilyn in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- 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.
- Familiar in sound without being crowded: the full spelling is rarely doubled up in one classroom.
- 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.
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What they receive
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Madilyn
Feminine · #464 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Madilyns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 23,500 people named Madilyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Madilyn?
- Madilyn is the most-used spelling in US records — 662 of the 1,020 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Madilynn, Maddilyn and Maddilynn.
- How popular is the name Madilyn in 2025?
- Madilyn ranks #464 among US girl names in 2025, with 662 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Madilyn?
- About 1 in every 2,428 US girls born in 2025 was named Madilyn — 662 in all.
- Will my child share the name Madilyn with classmates?
- Madilyn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Madilyn
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Xiomara#463 · Michelle#465 · Gracelyn#466 · Elle#461 · Helen#461 · Monroe#467 · Daniella#468 · Alicia#460
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Madilyn? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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