Madonna
Feminine · “my lady”
Madonna is a form of address, not a name — it is Italian for my lady, contracted from mia donna, and it belongs to the Virgin in the same way that Our Lady does in English. Italian-American Catholic families gave it to daughters through the first half of the twentieth century, and the record makes that clear: the name's high point is in the 1930s, half a century before the singer.
How old is the name Madonna?
Madonna first appears in US birth records in 1897 — 128 years ago. The typical Madonna alive today was born around 1951, making them about 74 years old. About 5,800 people named Madonna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Madonna most popular?
Madonna peaked in 1933, reaching #533 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 12,675 places below that high. See the whole 1933 chart.
Where it comes from
From domina to Madonna
The story of Madonna
Italian Catholic devotion produced a set of names taken from titles of the Virgin rather than from her name — Madonna, Assunta, Concetta, Immacolata — and Italian families brought all of them to America. The record shows Madonna peaking between the wars, exactly when that immigration was at its most numerous. It went quiet afterward, and then a performer from Michigan carried it into a completely different kind of visibility in the 1980s — which did not revive the name at all, and may have retired it.
Meaning
my lady
From the Italian ma donna, a contraction of mia donna — my lady — where donna comes from the Latin domina, the mistress of a household. It is a title of the Virgin Mary and, by extension, the word for a painting of her. It was a devotional name rather than a descriptive one.
How the name formed
- domina
- mia donna
- Madonna
Related forms: Madonna · Nuestra Señora · Notre Dame
Pronouncing Madonna
muh-DON-uh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Italian gives the doubled n a genuine length that English does not, and says the first vowel more fully — mah-DON-nah.
Nicknames for Madonna
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
- 1897
- Most girls named
- 1956194 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #533reached in 1933
- Change vs 2021
- 0.0%6 in 2025, from 6
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.
Madonna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Madonna in Italian — same name
- Nuestra Señora in Spanish — related form
- Notre Dame in French — related form
Madonnas among us
people named Madonna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Madonna
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Antonette test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Madonna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Antonette climbed just as high around 1915, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Antonette's path sketches the road Madonna is walking now.
Madonna 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
Madonna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Madonna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Donna and Maddie are both available and belong to different generations.
- The devotional history behind it is documented and specific.
- Three open syllables that sit well after almost any surname.
- For anyone over about thirty the name belongs to one performer, completely and probably permanently.
- It is a religious title, which is a strong signal to carry and worth deciding about deliberately.
- Its Italian-American history is invisible to most Americans now, which is a real loss.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Madonna to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Madonna
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Madonnas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,800 people named Madonna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Madonna in 2025?
- Madonna ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Madonna?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Madonna — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Madonna with classmates?
- Madonna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Madonna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Madonna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Madonna 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
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