Maddox
A masculine given name of Welsh origin meaning "son of Madoc".
Name Census estimates that about 46,818 living Americans carry the first name Maddox. It sits at #215 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (96.3% of registrations). The average person named Maddox today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maddox births was 2017 (3,146 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maddox. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Maddox with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Maddox is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,759 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Maddox is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
47K
~ 1 in 7,321 Americans
Peak year
2017
3,146 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#215
Tracked since 1995
Census
Maddox in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 33,732 people with the first name Maddox, which placed it at #1,165 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,165
National first-name rank
People counted
34K
33,732 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
11.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maddox
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maddox is White at 71.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.2%) and Two or More Races (9.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Maddox described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Maddox at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.0% · 23,945
- Hispanic or Latino13.2% · 4,460
- Two or more races9.1% · 3,078
- Black or African American3.3% · 1,123
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 858
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 268
Gender
Gender distribution for Maddox
Maddox leans heavily male at 96.3% of total registrations, but 1,759 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Maddox as a male name
- Ranked #215 in 2024
- 1,665 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (3,043 births)
Maddox as a female name
- Ranked #2,160 in 2024
- 88 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (120 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maddox leans strongly male. 32,467 people counted with this name were male (96.3%), compared with 1,264 female bearers (3.7%).
Popularity
Maddox: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maddox 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 26,550 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Maddox remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maddox 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 Maddox during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maddox' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Maddox, while District of Columbia, Wyoming, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 896 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maddox
The name Maddox has its origins in the Welsh language and culture. It is derived from the Welsh words "madog" or "madawc," which mean "fortunate" or "having good fortune." The name dates back to the Middle Ages and was particularly common in Wales and other parts of Britain during that time period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Maddox can be found in the Welsh Chronicles, where a prince named Madoc ap Owain Gwynedd (1144-1170) is mentioned. He was a member of the royal family of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and is said to have led an exploration voyage to the Americas, predating Christopher Columbus by several centuries.
During the Middle Ages, the name Maddox was also associated with religious figures and saints. Saint Madog (also known as St. Madoc or St. Maddox) was a 6th-century Welsh monk who is believed to have established several monasteries in Wales and Brittany.
In the 16th century, a Welsh poet named Maddox ap Gwilym (c. 1550-1620) gained recognition for his works in the Welsh language. He is considered one of the most significant poets of the Welsh Renaissance period.
Moving forward in history, Maddox Tindal (1653-1733) was an English philosopher and writer who was known for his works on deism and natural religion. He was a prominent figure in the Age of Enlightenment and his ideas influenced many thinkers of the time.
Another notable figure with the name Maddox was Sir Ralph Maddox (1735-1795), a British naval officer who served in the Royal Navy during the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary Wars. He was known for his bravery and skill in battle and received several honors for his service.
During the 20th century, Maddox Wilson (1904-1991) was an American basketball player and coach who played for the original Celtics team in the American Basketball League. He later went on to coach at several universities and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1965.
These are just a few examples of historical figures who bore the name Maddox, a name with a rich Welsh heritage and a long history dating back to the Middle Ages.
People
Maddox + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maddox 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
Maddox: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maddox?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 46,818 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maddox 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 7,321 US residents.
Is Maddox a common name?
We classify Maddox as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 47,197 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maddox most popular?
The single biggest year for Maddox was 2017, when 3,146 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maddox is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maddox in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 33,732 people with the name Maddox, or 11.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,165 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Maddox in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Maddox?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maddox leans strongly male. 32,467 people counted with this name were male (96.3%), compared with 1,264 female bearers (3.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Maddox?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maddox is White at 71.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.2%) and Two or More Races (9.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Maddox most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maddox in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.0% (23,945 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Maddox in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maddox a male name?
Yes, 96.3% of people registered as Maddox in the SSA data are male. 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.
Is Maddox still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maddox in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Maddox can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people are named Maddox?
Want to know how many people have the name Maddox? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.