Madelin
A feminine name of French origin meaning "woman from the high tower".
Name Census estimates that about 2,852 living Americans carry the first name Madelin. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Madelin today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Madelin births was 2000 (115 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Madelin. 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 Madelin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 120,180 Americans
Peak year
2000
115 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,586
Tracked since 1899
Census
Madelin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,854 people with the first name Madelin, which placed it at #4,715 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
#4,715
National first-name rank
People counted
3.9K
3,854 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
64.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Madelin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Madelin is Hispanic at 64.6%. The next largest groups are White (30.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.8%). 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 Madelin 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 Madelin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino64.6% · 2,490
- White30.4% · 1,172
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 69
- Two or more races1.5% · 59
- Black or African American1.4% · 54
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 10
Popularity
Madelin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Madelin from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,009 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
Madelin 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 Madelin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Madelins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Madelin, while Kentucky, Connecticut, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 63 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Madelin
The name Madelin is derived from the French name Madeleine, which is the French form of the ancient Hebrew name Magdalene. Magdalene was the name of the biblical figure Mary Magdalene, one of the closest followers of Jesus Christ. The name Magdalene itself is derived from the Hebrew word "Migdal", meaning "tower" or "elevated", and likely refers to the town of Magdala in ancient Galilee.
The name Madeleine became popular in France during the Middle Ages, and variations such as Madelin and Madeline emerged as diminutive forms of the name. These forms of the name were common in France and other parts of Europe throughout the medieval and Renaissance periods.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Madelin can be found in the 12th century French epic poem "The Song of Roland", where a character named Madelin is mentioned. Another notable historical figure with this name was Madelin of Savoy, a 13th-century Countess of Savoy who played a significant role in the politics of the region.
In the 16th century, Madelin de l'Aubespine was a French diplomat and secretary of state under King Henry IV. A century later, Madelin de Demandolx was a French dramatist and playwright who wrote several successful plays during the reign of King Louis XIV.
In the 19th century, Madelin Lemaire was a French painter and sculptor who was known for her portraits and religious works. Around the same time, Madelin Cléry was a French writer and journalist who wrote extensively about the French Revolution.
Throughout history, the name Madelin has been borne by numerous notable individuals across various fields, including art, literature, politics, and religion. While its origins can be traced back to ancient Hebrew and biblical references, it has become a popular name in many cultures, particularly in France and other parts of Europe.
People
Madelin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Madelin 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
Madelin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Madelin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,852 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Madelin 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 120,180 US residents.
Is Madelin a common name?
We classify Madelin as "Rare". It ranks above 95% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,157 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Madelin most popular?
The single biggest year for Madelin was 2000, when 115 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Madelin is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Madelin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,854 people with the name Madelin, or 1.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,715 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 Madelin 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 Madelin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Madelin appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,852 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Madelin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Madelin is Hispanic at 64.6%. The next largest groups are White (30.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.8%). 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 Madelin most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Madelin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.6% (2,490 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 Madelin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Madelin a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Madelin 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 Madelin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Madelin 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 Madelin 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 Madelin?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.