Girls' name · since 1880

Madeline

207,385 babies named Madeline in U.S. Social Security records since 1880, with the highest year being 1998. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.

#194 of 72,339
all-time among girls
#81 of 17,297
2025 SSA year
207,385
born since 1880
2000s
peak decade

Yes -- Madeline is the #81 most popular girls' name in the U.S. today, with 207,385 recorded since 1880.

Madeline has 207,385 recorded births among girls since 1880, per the U.S. Social Security Administration, ranked #81 as of the latest data, more common than 99.5% of girls, busiest in the 2000s -- see the year-by-year trends, decade totals, and state-level distribution below, all drawn directly from SSA birth-registration files spanning 1880 to 2025.

  • #194 of 72,339 all-time among girls
  • #81 of 17,297 2025 SSA year
  • 207,385 born since 1880
  • 2000s peak decade

Data updated Aug 2026

The verdict

According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, Madeline ranks #194 of 72,339 girls' names by all-time recorded births (highest first) and #81 of 17,297 among girls' names in 2025. 207,385 born since 1880, peaking in the 2000s.

#194 of 72,339
all-time among girls
#81 of 17,297
2025 SSA year
207,385
born since 1880
2000s
peak decade
0%100%Median name50%99.5%
Madeline vs. every other girls name in current SSA rankings
Upper archive tier
All-time archive position

Madeline's 207,385 recorded births place it above 99.73% of the 72,339 girls names in the full SSA archive.

51 jurisdictions
State-record footprint

51 jurisdictions carry state-level records, led by New York.

How Madeline compares

207,385 Top 2% higher than 98% of 17,297 names currently given to girls

Based on all-time total births among currently-ranked girls names. Names with fewer occurrences are grouped into wider buckets on the right.

Source U.S. Social Security Administration, national baby name data

How the numbers stack up

Madeline's all-time total is 552x the median girls name, and Olivia still leads by a wide margin.

Metric Madeline Median girls name (Kyann) #1 girls name (Olivia)
All-time total births 207,385 376 567,345
Peak-year births 5,869 21 19,840

Madeline's usage pattern, beyond the headline number

Splitting Madeline's full recorded timeline at 1953, 73% of its total births fall in the more recent half of the record versus 27% in the earlier half -- usage has skewed toward the present, not a one-decade spike. Its quietest year on record was 1881, with just 14 recorded births -- worth weighing against the 1998 peak of 5,869 to see the full range of the name's swing in popularity.

Madeline popularity over time - girls

Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 1880–2025

Top 100 girls' name
Peak year (1998)
5,869
Annual births at peak, across 146 years of records
02,0004,0006,0008,000 188018991918193719561975199420132025 3,086

Madeline popularity over time - boys

245 total births recorded since 1921 (Madeline as boys' name)

Unisex variant - 245 births
05101520 19211933195519902000200520112018 5

Madeline by decade

2000s is the heaviest window (48,280 births, 23% of the file).

2000s was Madeline's strongest decade.

48,280 babies received the name during that ten-year window, about 23% of all-time use.

Madeline births by decade

Total births in each ten-year window

births

What this shows Peak: 2000s at 48,280 births (23% of all-time use).

Source U.S. Social Security Administration · Baby Names As of August 2026

How Madeline compares to similarly-sized names

Years in SSA records vs. share of all-time use concentrated in the single peak year, among 15 girls names closest to Madeline's total volume

Madeline vs 15 similarly-sized girls names Scatter plot of 16 data points. 2%3%4%5%6%7% 110120130140150 New & already peakedOld name, single-era peakNew & still diversifyingLong history, steady all along Years in SSA records % of total births in the single peak year -146, 2.6%-146, 2.5%-146, 2.4%-116, 5.3%-120, 3.8%-146, 3.2%-133, 3.1%-146, 2.6%-130, 4%-144, 2.8%-146, 2.6%-146, 6.1%-146, 2.5%-138, 2.9%-145, 4.9%Madeline-146, 2.8%Madeline
Madeline vs 15 similarly-sized girls names

Madeline by state

Where Madeline concentrates geographically, total births since 1880

Geographically diffuse
Top 8 states by recorded births for the name Madeline
Rank State Visual share Births Share of total
#1 New York
22,823 11.0%
#2 California
17,825 8.6%
#3 Texas
12,813 6.2%
#4 Pennsylvania
11,747 5.7%
#5 Illinois
10,173 4.9%
#6 Ohio
7,931 3.8%
#7 New Jersey
7,861 3.8%
#8 Massachusetts
7,194 3.5%
New York share of Madeline's total US births 11.0%
Even split

22,823 of 207,385 births nationwide. Compared to a flat distribution across 51 reporting states.

Madeline appears in 51 states. Explore state details →

Frequently Asked Questions

How popular is the name Madeline?
207,385 babies have been named Madeline since 1880. All-time, it sits at #194 of 72,339 girls' names by recorded births. In 2025, it ranks #81 of 17,297 among girls. The peak year was 1998 with 5,869 births.
Where does Madeline sit in the SSA name archive?
According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, Madeline ranks #194 of 72,339 girls' names by all-time recorded births (highest first) and #81 of 17,297 among girls' names in 2025. All-time ordinal matches browse popularity (total births DESC); the current ordinal uses the 2025 SSA file. See /methodology#corpus-placement.
When was Madeline most popular?
Madeline was most popular in the 2000s decade with 48,280 total births. The single peak year was 1998.
Where is Madeline most popular?
The top states for the name Madeline are New York (22,823 births), California (17,825 births), Texas (12,813 births).
How long has the name Madeline been used?
Madeline has been recorded in Social Security data since 1880, spanning 146 years of data through 2025.
What names are similar to Madeline?
Names with a similar sound or spelling include Madison, Madelyn, Madeleine, Maddison, and 4 more. These share a common prefix and are also used for girls.

What to do with Madeline's data

  • Madeline's usage has stayed within range of its 2000s decade-level peak (48,280 total births) through the 2020s (16,988) -- a comparatively stable name, not a fading trend.
  • New York records the most Madelines (22,823 births) -- see the full state breakdown if geography matters to your decision. New York names

Figures reflect SSA-reported births only; see the methodology above for the privacy-suppression floor.

Keep exploring Madeline

Nearby Names Like Madeline

Names with a similar sound, spelling, or feel to Madeline

Names with a similar popularity rank to Madeline

Nationwide names with similar peak year or record span

Two nationwide peer axes for Madeline: closest SSA peak year, and closest first→latest record span. Distinct from the spelling and current-rank neighborhoods above.

Peak year is the single SSA year with the most births for that name; record span is first-to-latest year in the national files, not a recommendation or shared origin claim.

Data Sources

Data as of August 2026. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).

According to the Social Security Administration, this profile draws directly from the agency's public-use baby-name files (updated June 2026). See our methodology for the full extraction, aggregation, and privacy-suppression rules.

Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications, National Data, 1880–2025 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames).

State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names, State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip).

Name Almanac is rendered directly from the Social Security Administration's public baby-name files, no number is typed in by an editor. This profile for Madeline draws directly on SSA national and state-level files, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.