Magda
Feminine · “Aramaic Magdala”
Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute. Pope Gregory the Great merged her with the unnamed sinful woman of Luke 7 in a sermon of 591, and the Catholic Church only formally separated them again in 1969. That single conflation shaped fourteen hundred years of art.
How old is the name Magda?
Magda first appears in US birth records in 1888 — 137 years ago. The typical Magda alive today was born around 1977, making them about 48 years old. About 2,600 people named Magda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Magda most popular?
Magda peaked in 1966, reaching #1232 nationally. Today it ranks #9457, 8,225 places below that high. See the whole 1966 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Magdala to Magda
The story of Magda
The Gospels present three separate women: Mary of Magdala, from whom seven demons were cast out and who is the first witness of the resurrection; Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus; and an unnamed sinful woman who anoints Jesus's feet in Luke 7. In a homily of 591 Gregory the Great identified all three as one person, and the Western church accepted the identification for the next fourteen hundred years. The result is the standard image of the Magdalene as a repentant prostitute, painted thousands of times, and the whole institutional history that followed from it, including the Magdalene asylums. The Eastern churches never made the identification. The Roman calendar separated the figures in 1969, and in 2016 her July feast was raised to the same rank as those of the apostles.
Meaning
Aramaic Magdala, a town on the Sea of Galilee
Magda is the German, Polish and Hungarian short form of Magdalena, from Mary Magdalene, meaning Mary of Magdala, a fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. The place name comes from a word for a tower. The English word maudlin descends from the same name, through images of her weeping. The American peak is 1966.
How the name formed
- Magdala
- Magdalena
- Magda
Related forms: Magda · Magda · Madeleine
Pronouncing Magda
MAHG-dah
Two syllables, stress on the first. German, Polish and Hungarian all say it the same way. English speakers may say MAG-dah with a shorter first vowel.
Nicknames for Magda
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
- 1888
- Most girls named
- 196676 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1232reached in 1966
- Change vs 2023
- −44.4%10 in 2025, from 18
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.
Magda in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Magda in German — same name
- Magda in Polish — same name
- Madeleine in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York.
Magdas among us
people named Magda are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 160,727 born in 2025 was named Magda
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 Lloyd test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Magda's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lloyd climbed just as high around 1930, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lloyd's path sketches the road Magda is walking now.
Magda 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
Magda beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Magda in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Magdalena is available as the formal version.
- Five letters and two syllables, easy across several languages.
- The place-name origin is documented and specific.
- It reads as a short form rather than a formal name.
- It is strongly identified with central Europe.
- The saint carries centuries of misattributed associations.
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What they receive
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Magda
Feminine · #9457 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Magdas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,600 people named Magda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Magda in 2025?
- Magda ranks #9457 among US girl names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Magda?
- About 1 in every 160,727 US girls born in 2025 was named Magda — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Magda with classmates?
- Magda will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Magda
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Leta#9457 · Inga#9457 · Delphia#9457 · Cammie#9457 · Lisandra#9457 · Amee#9457 · Venecia#9457 · Annetta#9457
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Magda? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Magda and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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