Madigan
An Irish feminine name meaning "little good maid" or "child of the plains".
Name Census estimates that about 951 living Americans carry the first name Madigan. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Madigan today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Madigan births was 2002 (67 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Madigan. 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
951
~ 1 in 360,415 Americans
Peak year
2002
67 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,728
Tracked since 1992
Popularity
Madigan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Madigan from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 540 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Madigan 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 Madigan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Madigans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. New York, Illinois, Colorado recorded the most babies named Madigan, while Wisconsin, Texas, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Madigan
The name Madigan is of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic name "Madagán," which means "little dog" or "little hound." This name has its roots in early medieval Ireland, dating back to the 5th or 6th century CE.
Madigan was a relatively common name among the Irish, particularly in the regions of Connacht and Munster. It is believed to have been a diminutive form of the name "Máedóc," which was derived from the Old Irish word "máed," meaning "lord" or "chief."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Madigan can be found in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. The annals mention a man named Madigan O'Conor, who lived in the 14th century and was a member of the O'Conor dynasty, a prominent family in Connacht.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Madigan. One of the most famous was Sir John Madigan (1801-1875), an Irish-born soldier and politician who served as the Governor of Western Australia from 1868 to 1875. Another notable Madigan was Mary Madigan (1905-1986), an American actress and vaudeville performer who appeared in several films in the 1930s and 1940s.
In the literary world, Francis Madigan (1918-1998) was an American author and journalist who wrote several novels and non-fiction works, including the critically acclaimed memoir "Borrowed Tides" (1961). Additionally, Edward Madigan (1936-1994) was an American politician who served as the United States Secretary of Agriculture from 1991 to 1993 under President George H. W. Bush.
Finally, one cannot discuss the name Madigan without mentioning Joseph Madigan (1891-1935), an Irish revolutionary and politician who played a significant role in the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. He served as a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and later became a member of the Dáil Éireann, the Irish parliament.
People
Madigan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Madigan 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
Madigan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Madigan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 951 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Madigan 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 360,415 US residents.
Is Madigan a common name?
We classify Madigan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 964 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Madigan most popular?
The single biggest year for Madigan was 2002, when 67 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Madigan is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Madigan a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Madigan 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.