Madilynn
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly from a combination of "Madison" and "Lynn".
Name Census estimates that about 11,004 living Americans carry the first name Madilynn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Madilynn today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Madilynn births was 2014 (656 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Madilynn. 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.
Key insights
- • Madilynn is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 31,148 Americans
Peak year
2014
656 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#792
Tracked since 1987
Census
Madilynn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,249 people with the first name Madilynn, which placed it at #3,053 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
#3,053
National first-name rank
People counted
7.2K
7,249 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Madilynn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Madilynn is White at 80.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.8%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Madilynn 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 Madilynn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.0% · 5,802
- Hispanic or Latino10.8% · 782
- Two or more races5.4% · 389
- Black or African American2.0% · 145
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 69
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 62
Popularity
Madilynn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Madilynn from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 5,731 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Madilynn remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Madilynn 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 Madilynn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Madilynns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Madilynn, while Connecticut, North Dakota, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 231 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Madilynn
The given name Madilynn is a variant of the name Madeline, which has its origins in the Germanic languages. The name is believed to have derived from the root words "maht," meaning "strength," and "lind," meaning "soft" or "tender." This combination of contrasting meanings is thought to represent the idea of a strong yet gentle person.
The earliest recorded use of the name Madeline dates back to the 7th century, where it appeared in medieval French texts as "Madeleine." It gained popularity during the Middle Ages and was often associated with the biblical figure of Mary Magdalene, a devoted follower of Jesus Christ. This association contributed to the name's widespread use among Christian communities across Europe.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Madeline was Madeline of Valois (1443-1495), a French princess and daughter of King Charles VII. She was known for her involvement in the French court and her patronage of the arts.
During the Renaissance period, the name gained further prominence, particularly in literature. In the 19th century, the French author Alfred de Musset immortalized the name in his poem "Madeleine," which celebrated the beauty and grace of a woman named Madeleine.
Another famous bearer of the name was the French novelist and playwright Madeleine de Scudéry (1607-1701), who was renowned for her influential literary salons and her contributions to the development of the novel genre.
In the 20th century, the name Madeline became widely recognized through the beloved children's book series "Madeline" by Ludwig Bemelmans, first published in 1939. The books follow the adventures of a young girl named Madeline in Paris, and the character's spunky personality endeared her to generations of readers.
Other notable figures with the name Madilynn or its variants include Madeleine Albright (1937-2022), the first woman to serve as the United States Secretary of State; Madeleine Stowe (born 1958), an American actress known for her roles in films such as "The Last of the Mohicans"; and Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007), the acclaimed American writer best known for her classic novel "A Wrinkle in Time."
People
Madilynn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Madilynn 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
Madilynn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Madilynn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,004 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Madilynn 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 31,148 US residents.
Is Madilynn a common name?
We classify Madilynn as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,106 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Madilynn most popular?
The single biggest year for Madilynn was 2014, when 656 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Madilynn is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Madilynn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,249 people with the name Madilynn, or 2.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,053 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 Madilynn 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 Madilynn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Madilynn appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,247 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 Madilynn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Madilynn is White at 80.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.8%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Madilynn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Madilynn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.0% (5,802 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 Madilynn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Madilynn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Madilynn 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 Madilynn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Madilynn 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 Madilynn 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 Madilynn?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.