Madeleine
A feminine French diminutive of the German name Magdalena; of Greek origin meaning "from Magdala".
Name Census estimates that about 37,156 living Americans carry the first name Madeleine. It sits at #437 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Madeleine today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Madeleine births was 1998 (1,424 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Madeleine. 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 Madeleine with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
37K
~ 1 in 9,225 Americans
Peak year
1998
1,424 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2014 SSA rank
#437
Tracked since 1881
Census
Madeleine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 36,784 people with the first name Madeleine, which placed it at #1,119 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
#1,119
National first-name rank
People counted
37K
36,784 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
12.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Madeleine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Madeleine is White at 75.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.7%) and Two or More Races (6.1%). 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 Madeleine 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 Madeleine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.6% · 27,810
- Hispanic or Latino10.7% · 3,950
- Two or more races6.1% · 2,232
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 1,656
- Black or African American2.9% · 1,063
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 73
Gender
Gender distribution for Madeleine
Out of the 45,054 babies given the name Madeleine since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Madeleine as a male name
- Ranked #13,299 in 2014
- 5 male births in 2014
- Peak: 1989 (10 births)
Madeleine as a female name
- Ranked #437 in 2024
- 707 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (1,424 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Madeleine appears almost entirely female. Of the 36,774 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Madeleine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Madeleine from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 10,625 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Madeleine remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Madeleine 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 Madeleine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Madeleines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Madeleine, while Alaska, Montana, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 826 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Madeleine
The name Madeleine originates from the French language and has its roots in the biblical name Magdalene, which refers to Mary Magdalene, a devoted follower of Jesus Christ. The name Madeleine is derived from the Hebrew name Migdal, meaning "tower" or "elevated."
In the 12th century, the name Madeleine gained popularity in France, particularly among the nobility and upper classes. It was often associated with grace, piety, and devotion, reflecting the qualities attributed to Mary Magdalene.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Madeleine can be found in the writings of the French poet and composer Guillaume de Machaut, who lived from around 1300 to 1377. He dedicated several works to a woman named Madeleine.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Madeleine. One of the most famous is Madeleine de Souvré, Marquise de Sablé (1599-1678), a French writer and prominent figure in the literary salons of 17th-century Paris.
Another notable Madeleine was Madeleine de Scudéry (1607-1701), a French novelist and prolific writer of the Baroque period, known for her influential works such as "Artamène, ou le Grand Cyrus" and "Clélie, histoire romaine."
In the 19th century, Madeleine Brès (1842-1898) was a French feminist and writer who advocated for women's rights and education. She founded the Société pour l'Enseignement Professionnel des Femmes (Society for the Professional Education of Women) in Paris.
Madeleine Vionnet (1876-1975) was a renowned French fashion designer known for her innovative and revolutionary approach to dressmaking, using the bias-cut technique to create elegant and fluid garments.
In the 20th century, Madeleine Albright (born 1937) gained international recognition as the first female United States Secretary of State, serving under President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Madeleine
People
Madeleine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Madeleine 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
Madeleine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Madeleine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 37,156 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Madeleine 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 9,225 US residents.
Is Madeleine a common name?
We classify Madeleine as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 45,054 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Madeleine most popular?
The single biggest year for Madeleine was 1998, when 1,424 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Madeleine is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Madeleine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 36,784 people with the name Madeleine, or 12.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,119 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 Madeleine 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 Madeleine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Madeleine appears almost entirely female. Of the 36,774 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Madeleine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Madeleine is White at 75.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.7%) and Two or More Races (6.1%). 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 Madeleine most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Madeleine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.6% (27,810 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 Madeleine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Madeleine a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Madeleine 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.
Is Madeleine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Madeleine 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 Madeleine 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 have the name Madeleine?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.