Migdalia
Feminine · “Hebrew migdal”
Migdalia is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 4,298 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Migdal is Hebrew for a tower, and it is scattered across the map of Israel: Migdal Eder, the tower of the flock, and Magdala on the shore of Galilee. Migdalia and Madeline are the same word arriving in two languages by two different roads.
How old is the name Migdalia?
Migdalia first appears in US birth records in 1948 — 77 years ago. The typical Migdalia alive today was born around 1965, making them about 60 years old. About 3,900 people named Migdalia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Migdalia most popular?
Migdalia peaked in 1959, reaching #665 nationally. Today it ranks #10107, 9,442 places below that high. See the whole 1959 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From migdal to Migdalia
The story of Migdalia
Towers were the standard fortification of the ancient Levant, and the word for them is buried in dozens of place names: Migdal Eder near Bethlehem, Migdal El in Naphtali, Migdol on the Egyptian frontier, and Magdala on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, a fishing town whose full name appears to have been the tower of the fish. That last one produced the epithet Magdalene and, through it, the whole European family of Madeleine, Magdalena, Lena and Madeline. Migdalia takes a shorter road: it is built directly on the Hebrew element in Spanish, without passing through the saint's epithet, and it became a distinctively Puerto Rican name in the mid-twentieth century. Two names, one tower, and almost no one who carries either would recognize the other as a relative.
Meaning
Hebrew migdal, a tower
From Hebrew migdal, a tower, the element behind the place name Magdala and therefore behind Magdalene. Migdalia is a Spanish formation, particularly common in Puerto Rico, taken from the same root rather than through the English Madeline. The peak is 1959.
How the name formed
- migdal
- Magdala
- Migdalia
Related forms: Migdalia · Migdal · Madeline
Pronouncing Migdalia
meeg-DAH-lee-ah
Four syllables, stress on the second, in Spanish. English speakers usually say mig-DAY-lee-uh.
Nicknames for Migdalia
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
- 1948
- Most girls named
- 1959226 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #665reached in 1959
- Change vs 2024
- +28.6%9 in 2025, 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.
Migdalia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Migdalia in Spanish — same name
- Migdal in Hebrew — related form
- Madeline in English — related form
Migdalias among us
people named Migdalia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 178,585 born in 2025 was named Migdalia
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 Carmelita test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Migdalia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Carmelita climbed just as high around 1930, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Carmelita's path sketches the road Migdalia is walking now.
Migdalia 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
Migdalia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Migdalia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Dalia works as a short form and is a name in its own right.
- The Hebrew root is documented and concrete.
- It is an established traditional name in Puerto Rico.
- Four syllables is long before a surname.
- English and Spanish pronounce the second vowel differently.
- The 1959 peak dates its American use.
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What they receive
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Migdalia
Feminine · #10107 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Migdalias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,900 people named Migdalia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Migdalia in 2025?
- Migdalia ranks #10107 among US girl names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Migdalia?
- About 1 in every 178,585 US girls born in 2025 was named Migdalia — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Migdalia with classmates?
- Migdalia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Migdalia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Berta#10107 · Jettie#10107 · Maye#10107 · Osa#10107 · Fidelia#10107 · Alysa#10107 · Su#10107 · Willie#10107
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Migdalia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Migdalia and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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