Maud
Feminine name of Old German origin meaning "mighty in battle".
Name Census estimates that about 549 living Americans carry the first name Maud. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maud today is around 80 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maud births was 1886 (483 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maud. 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
- • The typical person named Maud is about 80 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Mauds were born before 1956.
People living today
549
~ 1 in 624,325 Americans
Peak year
1886
483 babies that year
Average age
80
years old
1908 SSA rank
#1,529
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Maud
Out of the 13,190 babies given the name Maud since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Maud as a male name
- Ranked #1,529 in 1908
- 5 male births in 1908
- Peak: 1881 (6 births)
Maud as a female name
- Ranked #14,595 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1886 (478 births)
Popularity
Maud: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maud from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1880s, with 4,222 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1880s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maud 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 Maud during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mauds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Maud, while West Virginia, New Jersey, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 90 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maud
The name Maud is a female given name of English and French origin, derived from the Germanic name Mahthildis or Mathilde, which is composed of the elements "maht" meaning "might" or "strength" and "hild" meaning "battle." The name Maud emerged as a contracted form of Mahthildis in the Middle Ages.
The earliest known historical reference to the name Maud can be found in the 11th century, when it was borne by Matilda of Flanders (c. 1031–1083), the wife of William the Conqueror, the first Norman King of England. She was a powerful and influential figure in her own right and played a significant role in the Norman conquest of England.
Another notable Maud in history was Matilda of England (1102–1167), also known as the Empress Maud or Maud the Empressed. She was the daughter of King Henry I of England and claimed the English throne during a civil war known as "The Anarchy." Although she was never officially crowned, she was recognized as the Lady of the English for a brief period.
In the 13th century, Maud de Braose (c. 1224–1301) was a wealthy English heiress and landowner. She was involved in a famous court case regarding her right to inherit her father's estates, which set an important legal precedent for women's inheritance rights.
During the 14th century, Maud of Lancaster (1340–1362) was an English noblewoman and the first wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. She was the mother of King Henry IV of England and the grandmother of King Henry V.
In the 15th century, Maud Green (c. 1492–1556) was an English Protestant martyr who was burned at the stake for her religious beliefs during the Marian persecutions under the reign of Queen Mary I.
The name Maud has been popular among English and French royalty, nobility, and historical figures throughout the centuries, reflecting its association with strength, power, and resilience.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Maud
People
Maud + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maud 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
Maud: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maud?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 549 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maud 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 624,325 US residents.
Is Maud a common name?
We classify Maud as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,190 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maud most popular?
The single biggest year for Maud was 1886, when 483 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maud is about 80 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Maud a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Maud 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.