girl's name
Maddie
MAD-ee
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 12,928
the United States
#927
2025 births
Maddie is a girl's name of Aramaic origin meaning "of Magdala," a fishing town on the Sea of Galilee — so it is a place name rather than a description. It ranks 158th in Northern Ireland.
- Maddie is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 2023, when 328 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 11,757 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1893.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Maddie over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1890s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1890s | 11 |
| 1900s | 32 |
| 1910s | 107 |
| 1920s | 108 |
| 1930s | 75 |
| 1940s | 46 |
| 1950s | 13 |
| 1960s | 6 |
| 1980s | 197 |
| 1990s | 401 |
| 2000s | 1,487 |
| 2010s | 2,106 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,664 |
What Maddie means
Maddie inherits Madeleine's meaning: of Magdala. The town's own name comes from a word for a tower, so the name says where a woman was from and carries nothing about her at all.
Where Maddie comes from
Maddie is a diminutive of Madeleine, Madeline and Madison, which come from two entirely different places. Madeleine descends from Magdalene, the epithet of Mary Magdalene, from the Aramaic Magdala — a town whose name derives from a word for a tower. Madison is an English surname meaning son of Maud, which entered American use as a girls' name after the 1984 film Splash and has no connection to the Aramaic. Maddie therefore serves two unrelated names, and which one a family means is not recoverable from the short form. Mary Magdalene's reputation as a prostitute has no scriptural basis: it comes from a 591 sermon of Gregory the Great conflating three separate women, an error the Vatican set aside in 1969.
Maddie in use
Maddie ranks 158th in Northern Ireland with 13 births in 2024 and 360th in England and Wales, and it is rising in our data with a peak in 2023. Our records carry it from 1893. It holds 395th in France with 135 births — unexpected reach for an English diminutive — and 927th in the United States. Maddison, Madison and Madeleine are all counted separately.
How popular is Maddie?
In 2025, Maddie was given to 282 babies in the United States, ranking #927 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Maddie is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Maddie is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Maddïe | Maddïe is a rare spelling of Maddie, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 5 times, mostly in France. | 5 |
Names that peaked alongside Maddie
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Maddie also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Maddie over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Maddie in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Maddie
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Maddie — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Maddie
What does the name Maddie mean?
It inherits Madeleine's meaning: "of Magdala," a town on the Sea of Galilee.
Is Maddie short for Madison?
It serves both Madeleine and Madison, which are unrelated — Madison is an English surname meaning son of Maud.
Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute?
No scriptural basis. That comes from a 591 sermon conflating three women, which the Vatican set aside in 1969.
How popular is Maddie?
158th in Northern Ireland and 360th in England and Wales.
Is Maddie a girl's or a boy's name?
Maddie is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Maddie?
Maddie has 2 syllables.
Is Maddie a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Maddie currently ranks #158 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.