Madinah
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "city".
Name Census estimates that about 242 living Americans carry the first name Madinah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Madinah today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Madinah births was 2023 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Madinah. 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 Madinah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
242
~ 1 in 1,416,340 Americans
Peak year
2023
14 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,289
Tracked since 1977
Census
Madinah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 222 people with the first name Madinah, which placed it at #35,960 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
#35,960
National first-name rank
People counted
222
222 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
68.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Madinah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Madinah is Black at 68.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (11.3%) and White (8.1%). 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 Madinah 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 Madinah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American68.9% · 153
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.3% · 25
- White8.1% · 18
- Two or more races6.8% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 11
Popularity
Madinah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Madinah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 62 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Madinah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Madinah 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 Madinah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Madinah
The name Madinah is derived from the Arabic word "Madinah," which means "city." It has its origins in the Arabian Peninsula and is closely associated with the Islamic faith and its history.
Madinah is the name of the city in present-day Saudi Arabia where the Prophet Muhammad established the first Muslim community after his migration from Mecca in 622 CE. Originally known as Yathrib, the city was renamed Madinat an-Nabi (The City of the Prophet) after Muhammad's arrival, which later became Madinah.
The name Madinah holds immense significance in Islamic tradition and history. It is mentioned in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, and is considered one of the three holiest cities in Islam, along with Mecca and Jerusalem. The famous Mosque of the Prophet (Al-Masjid an-Nabawi) is located in Madinah, where Muhammad is buried.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Madinah being used as a personal name dates back to the 7th century CE, during the early years of Islam. Madinah bint Al-Walid (born around 630 CE) was a renowned female companion of the Prophet Muhammad and is remembered for her piety and knowledge of Islamic teachings.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Madinah, including:
1. Madinah bint al-Hasan (died around 750 CE), a respected Islamic scholar and hadith narrator from the Abbasid era.
2. Madinah al-Andalusiyyah (born around 990 CE), a celebrated Andalusian poet and writer during the golden age of Islamic Spain.
3. Madinah al-Ghazzaliyyah (born around 1120 CE), a famous female Sufi mystic and scholar from Persia, known for her influential writings on Islamic spirituality.
4. Madinah Umm Kulthum (born around 1500 CE), a influential female religious leader and teacher in the Ottoman Empire.
5. Madinah al-Yamani (born in 1903), a prominent Yemeni writer and activist who advocated for women's rights and education in the early 20th century.
The name Madinah has a deep-rooted connection to the Islamic faith and its rich cultural heritage, serving as a constant reminder of the significance of the city of Madinah in the history and development of Islam.
People
Madinah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Madinah 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
Madinah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Madinah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 242 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Madinah 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 1,416,340 US residents.
Is Madinah a common name?
We classify Madinah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 249 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Madinah most popular?
The single biggest year for Madinah was 2023, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Madinah is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Madinah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 222 people with the name Madinah, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,960 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 Madinah 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 Madinah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Madinah appears almost entirely female. Of the 217 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Madinah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Madinah is Black at 68.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (11.3%) and White (8.1%). 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 Madinah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Madinah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.9% (153 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 Madinah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Madinah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Madinah 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 Madinah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Madinah 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 Madinah 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 Madinah?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.