Madai
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "precious jewel" or "ornament".
Name Census estimates that about 560 living Americans carry the first name Madai. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Madai today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Madai births was 2005 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Madai. 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
560
~ 1 in 612,061 Americans
Peak year
2005
27 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,696
Tracked since 1979
Census
Madai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 869 people with the first name Madai, which placed it at #13,773 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
#13,773
National first-name rank
People counted
869
869 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
94.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Madai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Madai is Hispanic at 94.7%. The next largest groups are Black (2.0%) and White (1.7%). 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 Madai 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 Madai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino94.7% · 823
- Black or African American2.0% · 17
- White1.7% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 7
- Two or more races0.7% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Madai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Madai from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 229 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
Madai 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 Madai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Madais live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Madai, while Illinois, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 55 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Madai
The name Madai is believed to have its origins in the ancient Semitic languages of the Middle East, possibly derived from the Hebrew word "madai," which means "middle" or "central." This suggests that the name may have been used to refer to someone from the central region or a central location.
In ancient Hebrew texts, Madai is mentioned as the name of one of the sons of Japheth, who was a son of Noah according to the Book of Genesis. This biblical reference suggests that the name has been in use since ancient times, potentially dating back to the period after the Great Flood described in the Old Testament.
The name Madai is also closely associated with the ancient Median people, who lived in the region of northwestern Iran during the 1st millennium BC. The Medes were an influential Indo-European group who established the Median Empire, which was later conquered by the Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Madai was Madai, the eponymous ancestor of the Median people, mentioned in the ancient Babylonian text known as the Behistun Inscription. This inscription, dating back to the 6th century BC, was created by the Persian king Darius the Great and recounts his conquests and the history of the region.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Madai, including:
1. Madai ibn Malik (c. 700 AD), a prominent Arab mathematician and astronomer from Basra, known for his contributions to the development of trigonometry and spherical geometry.
2. Madai al-Zahiri (c. 1150 AD), an Islamic scholar and judge from Damascus, known for his expertise in Zahiri jurisprudence and his influential legal writings.
3. Madai Khan (c. 1600 AD), a Mughal nobleman and military commander who served under the Mughal Emperor Akbar and played a significant role in the conquest of Gujarat.
4. Madai Majnun (c. 1700 AD), a Persian poet and mystic from Isfahan, known for his devotional poetry and his association with the Sufi tradition.
5. Madai Rana (c. 1850 AD), a prominent ruler of the Rana dynasty in Mewar, India, who was known for his military prowess and his efforts to modernize the region.
While the name Madai has its roots in ancient cultures and languages, it has endured and been used across various regions and time periods, reflecting its rich historical significance and cultural connections.
People
Madai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Madai 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
Madai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Madai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 560 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Madai 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 612,061 US residents.
Is Madai a common name?
We classify Madai as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 571 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Madai most popular?
The single biggest year for Madai was 2005, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Madai 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 Madai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 869 people with the name Madai, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,773 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 Madai 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 Madai?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Madai leans strongly female. 840 people counted with this name were female (96.8%), compared with 28 male bearers (3.2%). 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 Madai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Madai is Hispanic at 94.7%. The next largest groups are Black (2.0%) and White (1.7%). 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 Madai most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Madai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.7% (823 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 Madai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Madai a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Madai 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 Madai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Madai 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 Madai 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 called Madai?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.