Magdalen
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "woman from Magdala".
Name Census estimates that about 1,222 living Americans carry the first name Magdalen. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Magdalen today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Magdalen births was 1915 (92 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Magdalen. 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 Magdalen with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 280,486 Americans
Peak year
1915
92 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,732
Tracked since 1880
Census
Magdalen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,434 people with the first name Magdalen, which placed it at #9,614 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
#9,614
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,434 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Magdalen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Magdalen is White at 74.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.6%) and Black (3.8%). 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 Magdalen 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 Magdalen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.4% · 1,067
- Hispanic or Latino14.6% · 210
- Black or African American3.8% · 55
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 55
- Two or more races2.6% · 38
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 9
Popularity
Magdalen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Magdalen from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 579 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Magdalen 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 Magdalen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Magdalens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Minnesota, New York recorded the most babies named Magdalen, while New Jersey, Missouri, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 44 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Magdalen
Magdalen is a feminine given name derived from the Aramaic name Magdala, which referred to a town on the Sea of Galilee in ancient Israel. The name is closely associated with Mary Magdalene, a prominent figure in the New Testament gospels who was one of the closest followers of Jesus Christ.
The name gained widespread popularity in the Christian tradition, particularly in Catholic and Orthodox regions, as a way to honor Mary Magdalene's devotion and significance in the life of Jesus. In the early centuries of Christianity, the name was often bestowed upon girls born on or around the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene, which is celebrated on July 22nd.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Magdalen can be found in the writings of the 4th-century Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus, who mentioned a woman named Magdalena. Over the centuries, various spellings of the name emerged, including Magdalene, Maudelin, and Maudlyne.
Notable historical figures who bore the name Magdalen include Magdalen of Verona (c. 1201-1278), an Italian nun and mystic; Magdalen Herbert (1629-1672), an English poet and the first woman to publish a book of poetry in the American colonies; and Magdalen Brereton (1773-1858), an English artist and writer.
In the realm of education, the name is associated with Magdalen College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, founded in 1458. The college's name derives from the nearby Church of St. Mary Magdalen, which dates back to the 11th century.
Other famous Magdalens throughout history include Magdalen Davy (c. 1577-1626), an English herbalist and author; Magdalen Viscountess Montagu (1538-1608), an English noblewoman and courtier; and Magdalen Crump (1763-1824), an English poet and playwright.
People
Magdalen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Magdalen 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
Magdalen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Magdalen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,222 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Magdalen 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 280,486 US residents.
Is Magdalen a common name?
We classify Magdalen as "Rare". It ranks above 91.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,251 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Magdalen most popular?
The single biggest year for Magdalen was 1915, when 92 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Magdalen is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Magdalen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,434 people with the name Magdalen, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,614 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 Magdalen 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 Magdalen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Magdalen appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,436 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Magdalen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Magdalen is White at 74.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.6%) and Black (3.8%). 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 Magdalen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Magdalen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.4% (1,067 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 Magdalen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Magdalen a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Magdalen 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 Magdalen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Magdalen 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 Magdalen 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 Magdalen as a first name?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Magdalen at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.