Madison
Masculine · “son of Maud”
Madison is given to girls far more often — 419,806 girls against 7,869 boys since 1880. See Madison as a girl name
Madison is son of Maud — a metronymic surname, formed from a mother's name rather than a father's, which is rarer in English than people expect.
How old is the name Madison?
Madison was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Madison alive today was born around 1990, making them about 35 years old. About 5,400 people named Madison are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Madison most popular?
Madison peaked in 1881, reaching #307 nationally. Today it ranks #5208, 4,901 places below that high. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Mahthildis to Madison
The story of Madison
Madison was an English surname and became an American given name chiefly through James Madison, fourth president and principal author of the Constitution, after whom towns and a Manhattan avenue are named. It was masculine in modest numbers through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; a 1984 film then turned it into an enormously popular girls' name. Masculine Madison peaked in the late 1990s.
Meaningscholars disagree
son of Maud
The commonest reading takes the surname from Maud, the medieval English form of Matilda, plus -son — so a metronymic. A competing account derives it from Madde, a pet form of Madeleine or of Matthew. Through Maud it reaches the Germanic maht and hild, 'mighty in battle'.
How the name formed
- Mahthildis
- Maud
- Madison
Related forms: Maddison · Maud
Pronouncing Madison
MAD-ih-sun
Three syllables, stress on the first. Said identically whichever sex carries it.
Nicknames for Madison
Moderate
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1996263 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #307reached in 1881
- Change vs 2022
- −37.9%18 in 2025, from 29
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 — spelling variant
- Maud in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York.
Madisons among us
people named Madison are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 94,893 born in 2025 was named Madison
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Madison 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
Madison beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Madison in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The metronymic construction — son of a mother — is genuinely uncommon and interesting.
- It carries a documented and consequential American founder.
- Three syllables with a front stress, which holds up against a short surname.
- In America the name now reads as overwhelmingly feminine.
- The first element is genuinely disputed.
- It is closely dated to the 1990s in its masculine use.
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What they receive
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Madison
Masculine · #5208 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 5,400 people named Madison are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Madison in 2025?
- Madison ranks #5208 among US boy names in 2025, with 18 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Madison?
- About 1 in every 94,893 US boys born in 2025 was named Madison — 18 in all.
- Will my child share the name Madison with classmates?
- Madison will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Madison
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rodger#5208 · Eusebio#5208 · Boy#5208 · Randal#5208 · Gable#5208 · Jessy#5208 · Kelby#5208 · Jens#5208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Madison? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Madison and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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