Maddalyn
A feminine given name of English origin meaning "woman from Magdala".
Name Census estimates that about 608 living Americans carry the first name Maddalyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maddalyn today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maddalyn births was 2014 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maddalyn. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
608
~ 1 in 563,741 Americans
Peak year
2014
58 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,895
Tracked since 1997
Popularity
Maddalyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maddalyn from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 364 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maddalyn by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Maddalyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maddalyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, California recorded the most babies named Maddalyn, while Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maddalyn
The name Maddalyn has its origins in the Hebrew name Migdal, meaning "tower" or "fortress". It is a variant of the name Magdalene, which was derived from the Biblical place name Magdala, a town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in ancient Israel.
The name Magdalene is most famously associated with Mary Magdalene, a devoted follower of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. She is considered an important figure in the Christian faith and is often referred to as the "apostle to the apostles" for her role in witnessing Christ's resurrection and spreading the news to the disciples.
In medieval Europe, the name Maddalyn became popular as a feminine form of the name Matthew, which also has Hebrew roots and means "gift of God". The name was particularly common in Catholic regions, where Mary Magdalene was venerated as a saint.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Maddalyn can be found in the 13th century, when Maddalyn de Verney, an English noblewoman, was mentioned in historical records from 1268. Another notable figure with this name was Maddalyn Baret, a 15th-century French poet and courtier who lived from around 1425 to 1485.
In the 16th century, Maddalyn Cooke Wilcox (1535-1598) was an English courtier and translator who served in the court of Queen Elizabeth I. During the same period, Maddalyn Frampton (1552-1616) was a wealthy English landowner and philanthropist who founded several charitable institutions in her lifetime.
In the 17th century, Maddalyn Baker (1608-1675) was a notable English Puritan writer and religious leader who published several influential works on Calvinist theology. Her contemporary, Maddalyn Rigby (1614-1658), was a Quaker preacher and early advocate for women's rights in England.
While the name Maddalyn has its roots in ancient Hebrew and Christian traditions, it has maintained a timeless quality and has been used across various cultures and time periods, making it a name with a rich and fascinating history.
People
Maddalyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maddalyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Maddalyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maddalyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 608 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maddalyn going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 563,741 US residents.
Is Maddalyn a common name?
We classify Maddalyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 614 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maddalyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Maddalyn was 2014, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maddalyn is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Maddalyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maddalyn in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.