Madlyn
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a combination of Madeline and Lyn.
Name Census estimates that about 1,017 living Americans carry the first name Madlyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Madlyn today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Madlyn births was 1922 (76 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Madlyn. 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 Madlyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 337,025 Americans
Peak year
1922
76 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,729
Tracked since 1898
Census
Madlyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,369 people with the first name Madlyn, which placed it at #9,924 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
#9,924
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,369 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Madlyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Madlyn is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Black (12.0%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Madlyn 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 Madlyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.5% · 1,020
- Black or African American12.0% · 164
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 117
- Two or more races2.4% · 33
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 12
Popularity
Madlyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Madlyn from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 480 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Madlyn 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 Madlyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Madlyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Madlyn, while New Jersey, Michigan, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 40 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Madlyn
The name Madlyn is of English origin, derived from the combination of the Old English words "mæd" meaning "meadow" and "lind" meaning "lime tree." It is a feminine form of the name Madeleine, which has its roots in the Hebrew name Magdalene, associated with Mary Magdalene from the Bible.
The earliest recorded use of the name Madlyn dates back to the 13th century in England, where it was a variant spelling of Madeleine. It gained popularity in the Middle Ages, particularly among the aristocracy and upper classes.
In the 14th century, there is a record of a Madlyn de Vere, who was a member of the influential de Vere family and lived in Essex, England. Another notable figure was Madlyn Gower, a 15th-century English writer and poet, who was known for her works on chivalry and courtly love.
During the Renaissance, the name Madlyn became associated with the arts and literature. One famous bearer was Madlyn Spenser, a 16th-century English poet and contemporary of Edmund Spenser, who was known for her sonnets and lyrical verses.
In the 18th century, Madlyn Montagu, a British aristocrat and writer, gained recognition for her memoirs and letters, which provided insights into the social and cultural life of the time.
Moving into the 19th century, Madlyn Brontë, the lesser-known sister of the famous Brontë sisters, Charlotte and Emily, was a poet and writer herself, though her works were overshadowed by her siblings' literary success.
Another notable Madlyn was Madlyn Nightingale, a 19th-century British nurse who served in the Crimean War alongside Florence Nightingale and was known for her dedication to caring for wounded soldiers.
These are just a few examples of the historical figures who bore the name Madlyn, which has been a part of the English tradition for centuries and has been associated with literature, art, and nobility throughout its history.
People
Madlyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Madlyn 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
Madlyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Madlyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,017 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Madlyn 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 337,025 US residents.
Is Madlyn a common name?
We classify Madlyn as "Rare". It ranks above 90.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,370 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Madlyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Madlyn was 1922, when 76 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Madlyn is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Madlyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,369 people with the name Madlyn, or 0.45 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,924 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 Madlyn 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 Madlyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Madlyn appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,372 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Madlyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Madlyn is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Black (12.0%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Madlyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Madlyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.5% (1,020 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 Madlyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Madlyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Madlyn 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 Madlyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Madlyn 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 Madlyn 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 Madlyn?
You can see how many Americans are named Madlyn on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.