Madlin
Girl's name of Scandinavian origin meaning "maiden" or "high tower".
Name Census estimates that about 22 living Americans carry the first name Madlin. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Madlin today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Madlin births was 1999 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Madlin. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Madlin. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
22
~ 1 in 15,579,743 Americans
Peak year
1999
6 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2010 SSA rank
#16,197
Tracked since 1916
Popularity
Madlin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Madlin from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 11 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Madlin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Madlin 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 Madlin 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 Madlin
The name Madlin has its origins in the Germanic languages, with roots dating back to the Middle Ages. It is believed to be a diminutive form of the name Madeline, which itself is derived from the Germanic root "Mahthildis," meaning "mighty battle."
Madlin was particularly popular in medieval England and parts of northern Europe, where it was often spelled as "Madelina" or "Madelyne." The earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in English parish records from the 13th and 14th centuries.
While the name does not have any direct associations with religious texts or historical figures, it was relatively common among the nobility and aristocracy of medieval Europe. One notable bearer of the name was Madlin de Verdun, a 12th-century noblewoman from Normandy, who was known for her involvement in the political affairs of the time.
In the 15th century, a variant spelling, "Maudelyn," gained popularity, particularly in Scotland and northern England. One of the earliest recorded examples of this spelling was Maudelyn Douglas, a Scottish noblewoman who lived in the late 15th century.
As the name spread across Europe, it also found its way into the Russian Empire, where it was adapted as "Madlena." One notable bearer of this Russian variant was Madlena Nikolaevna Obolenskaya, a 19th-century Russian aristocrat and philanthropist.
Other notable individuals with the name Madlin throughout history include Madlin Bunting, an English writer and activist from the early 20th century, and Madlin Schneider, a German-American actress and dancer who gained fame in the 1920s and 1930s.
While the name has experienced periods of relative obscurity, it has maintained a consistent presence throughout the centuries, often associated with a sense of strength and resilience derived from its Germanic roots.
People
Madlin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Madlin 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
Madlin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Madlin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 22 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Madlin 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 15,579,743 US residents.
Is Madlin a common name?
We classify Madlin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 41.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 32 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Madlin most popular?
The single biggest year for Madlin was 1999, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Madlin is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Madlin a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Madlin 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.