Madolyn
Feminine · “from Magdala”
This swaps a French ending for an American one. Madeline closes with the -ine that French uses on Josephine and Christine; Madolyn closes with the -lyn that American naming has been attaching to everything for a century, and the name changes nationality at the last syllable.
How old is the name Madolyn?
Madolyn first appears in US birth records in 1896 — 129 years ago. The typical Madolyn alive today was born around 1947, making them about 78 years old. About 1,000 people named Madolyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Madolyn most popular?
Madolyn peaked in 1914, reaching #1098 nationally. See the whole 1914 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Magdalene to Madolyn
The story of Madolyn
The woman the name points at was three people for fourteen centuries because of one sermon. In the sixth century a pope preached a homily that identified her with an unnamed sinful woman from one gospel and with Martha's sister from another, and the composite figure — penitent, formerly a prostitute, wiping feet with her hair — became the standard western picture. The eastern churches never accepted it. Rome quietly separated the three in its calendar in nineteen sixty-nine, which is a very long time to be somebody else in the public imagination.
Meaning
from Magdala
A place name on the Sea of Galilee, used as a byname and then as a name in its own right. The sense identifies a person by where they were from.
How the name formed
- Magdalene
- Madeline
- Madolyn
Pronouncing Madolyn
MAD-uh-lin
Three syllables with the stress at the front. The -lyn ending is unstressed and reduces, exactly as the -ine it replaced did.
Nicknames for Madolyn
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
- 1896
- Most girls named
- 192145 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1098reached in 1914
- Change vs 2019
- −14.3%6 in 2023, from 7
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.
Madolyns among us
people named Madolyn are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Madolyn sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Maddy sits inside it as a completely current short form.
- The rhythm is even and the spelling gives no trouble.
- It is rarer than the standard form while sounding nearly identical.
- Madeline and Madelyn are both commoner and this gets corrected.
- The French connection is lost with the ending.
- It is tied to the middle decades of the last century.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Madolyn 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 Madolyn? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Madolyn
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Madolyns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Madolyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Madolyn in 2025?
- Madolyn is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Madolyn with classmates?
- Madolyn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Madolyn? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Madolyn 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.
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. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle