Madison
Feminine · “son of Maud”
Madison is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 419,806 girls against 7,869 boys since 1880. See Madison as a boy name
Madison began as an English surname — the kind of name that spent centuries on deeds and parish rolls before anyone thought of giving it to a baby. It arrived as a first name for girls through a mermaid in the 1984 film Splash, who borrowed it from a Manhattan street sign, and the joke in that scene was that nobody used it as a first name yet. Two syllables of consonant and one soft landing: MAD-ih-sun, easy to say and hard to mishear.
How old is the name Madison?
Madison first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Madison alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 416,000 people named Madison are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Madison most popular?
Madison peaked in 2001, reaching #2 nationally. Today it ranks #40, 38 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Where it comes from
From Matilda to Madison
The story of Madison
The surname was in use in medieval England, one of the many built by attaching "-son" to a mother's or father's familiar name. It reached American maps through James Madison, fourth president of the United States, whose name was given to the Wisconsin capital, to Madison Avenue in New York, and to counties in nearly every state. That civic familiarity is what made it available as a given name: the 1984 film Splash gave the name to a woman who picked it off the Manhattan street sign, and American parents took the idea seriously within a few years. In US records it has been overwhelmingly a girl's name ever since, though the surname itself, like all surnames, remains sexless.
Meaning
"son of Maud"
The medieval English surname was formed from Madde or Maddy — a pet form of Maud, itself the English shape of Matilda — plus the patronymic "-son". A minority of surname scholars trace some bearers to Magdalene instead, but Maud carries the main line.
Cultural footprint
Madison Beer (b. 1999) — Pop singer discovered by Justin Bieber
Madison Keys (b. 1995) — Australian Open champion tennis star
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Matilda
- Maud
- Maddy
- Madison
Related forms: Maddison · Madisyn · Madyson
Pronouncing Madison
MAD-ih-sun
Stress on the first syllable. The middle vowel is usually swallowed in ordinary speech, giving something close to MAD-sun. Pronunciation is the same in American, British and Canadian English.
Nicknames for Madison
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
- 1984 — Splash turns Madison into a first name
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 200122,166 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2reached in 2001
- Change vs 2024
- +7.9%4,945 in 2025, from 4,581
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.
Madison in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Maddison in English (British, Australian) — spelling variant
- Madisyn in English (American) — spelling variant
- Madyson in English (American) — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. International figures from Statistics Canada. Sources
Madisons among us
people named Madison are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 325 born in 2025 was named Madison
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Madison
- #40
- Madison on the 2025 chart
- #34
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Madison went to 4,945 girls in 2025, but Maddison and Madyson are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 5,751, which makes it the 34th most-given girls’ name of the year — 6 places above the chart.
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 279 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 325 for Madison 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 Barbara test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Madison's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Barbara climbed just as high around 1937, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Barbara's path sketches the road Madison is walking now.
Madison is coming down from a big peak (#2 in 2001). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Madison is headed
Madison 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.
Madison beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Madison in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled and said the same way by nearly everyone in the US and Canada; no correction needed at a coffee counter or a roll call.
- Comes with ready-made short forms — Maddie, Maddy, Mads — that are already in wide use rather than invented on the spot.
- Works as both a full formal name and a one-syllable nickname, which gives a child room to choose.
- A documented English surname with a traceable line back to Maud and Matilda, so the etymology is real rather than modern coinage.
- Charts in Canada as well as the US, so it travels without explanation across the border.
- The alternative spellings — Maddison, Madisyn, Madyson — are common enough that people will often ask which one you mean.
- Because Maddie is shared with Madeline, Madelyn and Matilda, the nickname is far more crowded than the full name.
- Its rise was steep and recent, so the name sits closely with a particular young-adult generation rather than reading as inherited or old-fashioned.
- The etymology is literally "son of Maud", which bothers some parents and delights others; either way, almost no one hears it that way in daily use.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Madison to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Madison? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Madison
Feminine · #40 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Madisons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 416,000 people named Madison are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Madison?
- Madison is the most-used spelling in US records — 4,945 of the 5,751 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Maddison and Madyson.
- How popular is the name Madison in 2025?
- Madison ranks #40 among US girl names in 2025, with 4,945 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Madison?
- About 1 in every 325 US girls born in 2025 was named Madison — 4,945 in all.
- Will my child share the name Madison with classmates?
- Madison will almost certainly be the only one in school.
- What explains the spikes and dips on Madison's chart?
- Madison climbed after 1984 — Splash turns Madison into a first name.
Ranked beside Madison
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ivy#39 · Abigail#41 · Grace#38 · Elena#42 · Mila#43 · Avery#37 · Layla#36 · Willow#44
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Madison? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Madison and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle