Madison Name Meaning

With a little help from a certain New York City street, Madison came onto the female baby name scene in the 1980s before climbing the charts the following decade. She’s as fashionable as the Big Apple yet as relatable as the girl next door, with her surname style and unisex ambiguity serving her well.

Madison fits in with Reagan and Kennedy, two popular surname names that also happen to double up as presidential monikers like she does. She distinguishes herself as an easy favorite however with her precious nickname option of Maddie, also shared with the classic Madeline or contemporary twist Madelyn. She’s easy to spell and pronounce, yet has variants like Maddison or Madisyn for those looking for a unique flair.

A little Madison is a natural leader, propelled by her stately roots. She isn’t afraid to speak up for what’s right or give a lengthy speech about things closest to her heart, even if it’s skipping nap time in favor of a trip to the park. Madison is spirited afterall and she marches to the beat of her own drum. This charisma will carry her far whether she’s passionately defending a cause or selling cookies as a Girl Scout.

Distant cousins include Matilda or Maude with modern choices like Avery or Harper similar in style.

Infographic of Madison name meaning, which is English for son of Maud, Madison is also a surname.
Ask your friends & family about Madison…

Madison Name Popularity

How popular is the name Madison? Here’s everything we know.

Year Rank # Births % Births
1910 — 0 0%
1911 — 0 0%
1912 — 0 0%
1913 — 0 0%
1914 — 0 0%
1915 — 0 0%
1916 — 0 0%
1917 — 0 0%
1918 — 0 0%
1919 — 0 0%
1920 — 0 0%
1921 — 0 0%
1922 — 0 0%
1923 — 0 0%
1924 — 0 0%
1925 — 0 0%
1926 — 0 0%
1927 — 0 0%
1928 — 0 0%
1929 — 0 0%
1930 — 0 0%
1931 — 0 0%
1932 — 0 0%
1933 — 0 0%
1934 — 0 0%
1935 — 0 0%
1936 — 0 0%
1937 — 0 0%
1938 — 0 0%
1939 — 0 0%
1940 — 0 0%
1941 — 0 0%
1942 — 0 0%
1943 — 0 0%
1944 — 0 0%
1945 — 0 0%
1946 — 0 0%
1947 — 0 0%
1948 — 0 0%
1949 — 0 0%
1950 — 0 0%
1951 — 0 0%
1952 — 0 0%
1953 — 0 0%
1954 — 0 0%
1955 — 0 0%
1956 — 0 0%
1957 — 0 0%
1958 — 0 0%
1959 — 0 0%
1960 — 0 0%
1961 — 0 0%
1962 — 0 0%
1963 — 0 0%
1964 — 0 0%
1965 — 0 0%
1966 — 0 0%
1967 — 0 0%
1968 — 0 0%
1969 — 0 0%
1970 — 0 0%
1971 — 0 0%
1972 — 0 0%
1973 — 0 0%
1974 — 0 0%
1975 — 0 0%
1976 — 0 0%
1977 — 0 0%
1978 — 0 0%
1979 — 0 0%
1980 — 0 0%
1981 — 0 0%
1982 — 0 0%
1983 — 0 0%
1984 2,873 6 0.0004%
1985 623 251 0.0165%
1986 367 612 0.0405%
1987 320 719 0.0471%
1988 300 800 0.0513%
1989 224 1,199 0.0743%
1990 204 1,386 0.0836%
1991 128 2,460 0.1509%
1992 107 3,151 0.1974%
1993 78 4,379 0.2809%
1994 51 6,261 0.408%
1995 29 9,774 0.6485%
1996 15 13,410 0.8956%
1997 10 15,188 1.0269%
1998 9 17,786 1.1883%
1999 7 18,053 1.2055%
2000 3 19,967 1.3071%
2001 2 22,164 1.471%
2002 2 21,773 1.4529%
2003 3 20,197 1.3276%
2004 3 20,622 1.353%
2005 3 19,566 1.2797%
2006 3 18,625 1.1895%
2007 5 17,958 1.1382%
2008 6 17,027 1.1017%
2009 7 15,235 1.0193%
2010 8 13,176 0.9143%
2011 8 12,381 0.869%
2012 9 11,392 0.7994%
2013 9 10,591 0.7439%
2014 9 10,315 0.708%
2015 11 10,087 0.6933%
2016 15 9,014 0.6252%
2017 17 7,847 0.5622%
2018 22 7,036 0.5121%
2019 26 6,269 0.4631%
2020 23 6,104 0.4796%
2021 30 5,390 0.4409%
2022 34 5,479 0.4153%

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Arkansas (AR)

Arizona (AZ)

California (CA)

Colorado (CO)

Connecticut (CT)

District of Columbia (DC)

Delaware (DE)

Florida (FL)

Georgia (GA)

Hawaii (HI)

Iowa (IA)

Idaho (ID)

Illinois (IL)

Indiana (IN)

Kansas (KS)

Kentucky (KY)

Louisiana (LA)

Massachusetts (MA)

Maryland (MD)

Maine (ME)

Michigan (MI)

Minnesota (MN)

Missouri (MO)

Mississippi (MS)

Montana (MT)

North Carolina (NC)

North Dakota (ND)

Nebraska (NE)

New Hampshire (NH)

New Jersey (NJ)

New Mexico (NM)

Nevada (NV)

New York (NY)

Ohio (OH)

Oklahoma (OK)

Oregon (OR)

Pennsylvania (PA)

Rhode Island (RI)

South Carolina (SC)

South Dakota (SD)

Tennessee (TN)

Texas (TX)

Utah (UT)

Virginia (VA)

Vermont (VT)

Washington (WA)

Wisconsin (WI)

West Virginia (WV)

Wyoming (WY)

Data via SSA.gov.

Names Like Madison

If you like Madison, you’ll love these other names like Madison.

What names are diminutives of Madison?

A diminutive is a name that’s like Madison sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Madison, but shorter.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Maddie

Woman from Magdala; maiden; young, unmarried woman

Hebrew

Maddy

Woman from Magdala; maiden; young, unmarried woman

Hebrew

Madi

What names are variants of Madison?

Mix it up with these names that are a variation of the name Madison.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Maddison

Son of Maud

English

Madisen

Son of the mighty warrior

English

Madisson

Son of Maud

English

Madisyn

Son of the mighty warrior

English

Madyson

Son of the mighty warrior

English

What names sound like Madison?

If you like how Madison sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Madison.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Addison

Son of Adam

English

Madeleine

Woman from Magdala

French

Madeline

Woman from Magdala

English

What names are similar to Madison?

Find a name that’s like Madison, but just a little bit different.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Avery

Elf counsel

English

Brielle

God is my strength

French

Brooklyn

Broken land

English

Harper

Harp Player

English

Kennedy

Helmeted head

Irish

Mackenzie

Son of Coinneach

Scottish

Piper

Pipe player

English

Sadie

Princess

Hebrew

Savannah

Large, grassy plain

English

Skylar

Noble scholar

English

Lists With Madison

Find inspiration in these baby girl name lists featuring the name Madison.

Siblings of Madison

Mamas with kids named Madison also have kids with these names.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Natalie

Christmas Day

French

Mason

Stoneworker

English

Adam

Man

Hebrew

River

Flowing body of water

English

Fielding

The field

English

Ireland

Country of Ireland

Irish

Penn

Enclosure; hill

English

Sofia

Wisdom

Greek

Samuel

Name of God

Hebrew

Dean

Valley

English

Magnolia

Magnolia flower

English

Andrew

Manly and powerful

Greek

Bailey

Bailiff

English

30 Comments

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  2. Dad’s suggestion. Took me a few days to come around but loved it in the end.

    Reply

  3. I named my daughter Madison Faith and I absolutely love love love the name! It means “Gift from God and Mighty Warrior”. It also holds an upper class and moxy “ish” feel in any setting it’s placed. Great name and great history follows the name Madison.

    Reply

    • My name is Madison Faith too! what a coincidence haha

      Reply

    • I named my daughter Madison Leigh

      Reply

  4. NA

    Reply

  5. First of all you don’t sound mean, you definately aren’t dumb, you sound like you are very smart, and if your so-called “Friends” judge you because of your name and your appearence, then they definately aren’t your friends. If you feel insecure, try to ignore them the best you can, and if thet doesnt’t work, tell a teacher/professor/adult who will listen to you. When the time has come, God will give you an amazing friend, who you like very much, share the same/simillar intrests, who is true to you, and who you trust very much. Until then, do the best you can to ignore those people. 🙂

    Reply

  6. It matches our other daughter’s name, and it suited her. We think it’s beautiful, shame it’s so common.

    Reply

  7. I think my name is decent although I would like charts for rarer variations.

    Reply

  8. As much as I love my name, and my nickname
    being Madi, I don’t see it being much fair that I’m TV shows, the mean girl is normally named Madison. I don’t know if I could even really name you a TV show or movie with a nice girl named Madison, if you could, please reply. Lots of my “friends” such as judge me for the name I forsake, because I also have blonde hair and blue eyes, which makes me “mean” and a “dumb blonde”. This makes me insecure, and is why I struggle to focus in classes, but I am so such thing as a “dumb blonde”.

    Reply

    • Hi Tangela ray
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    • Hey Madi, I am going to be an older mom(38)when I have my first little girl, I am thinking of the name Madison. There’s a movie made in the 80’s called Splash, with Tom Hanks about a real life mermaid, and its a great movie and I loved the character in the movie, she was so pretty. It’s an older movie but I think you would like it, it is what made your name a popular first name!!!

      Reply

      • Okay okay ? ? ? ?

        Reply

  9. I think Madison is a beautiful name for her that’s why I name her that

    Reply

  10. Love names that start with M. If she was a boywould have gone with Miles as the name. Love that her nickname will be Maddie. Madison is also a strong name and will suit her Leo personality.

    Reply

  11. Just loved the name

    Reply

  12. I love my name, and I think my mom and dad did a great job naming me. I -personally- think that my nick-name is Maddie.

    Reply

    • I think I might even think I’ll name my daughter Madison!(I’m in 4th grade)

      Reply

  13. I chose my baby first name because it’s similar to my great grandmother’s first name.

    I love that i can nickname her Madi and I love that it doesn’t put her in a category

    Reply

  14. It’s what I named my child and I find it very cute

    Reply

  15. Madison Ann. My husband wanted the name Madison for a very long time and her middle name Ann which is my middle name plus it’s my grandmother’s and my cousins middle names.

    Reply

  16. My mother’s name is Mary and my father’s name is Michael. I chose Madison because I wanted her to have a name similar to my parents.

    Reply

  17. I have loved this name since I was a little girl. As soon as I found out I was pregnant I knew I was having my Madison. Her name means Gift of God. There are some very cute nicknames that can be given, and her name fits so well into so many songs and nursery rhymes. All in all the name Madison is just beautiful.

    Reply

  18. We chose Madison for our first born because I loved that it was a bit preppy but neutral in terms of gender. As a child I always envied children whose names had nicknames and I wanted a Maddy.

    Reply

  19. Her daddy ALWAYS wanted to name hisbaby girl Madison Elizabeth, so i apparently had no say in the matter 😉 lol i wasnt 100% set, as i loved isabella and calling her izzy or bella but she does have 2 older brothers-mason & adam so madison kinda just fit? she was nameless tho for her first 2days of life she was babygirl or we’d say hi pretty 😉 bc thats what her daddy always said to me. Xoxo elizabeth was also the name that i chose as my confirmation name so it all kind of just seemed to work itself out as meant to be 🙂

    Reply

  20. I loved the name Madison it was my first pick and I just knew that it was right for my baby girl

    Reply

  21. i personally think my name doesnt sound that feminine ir masculine, which i like. but i do prefer maddy

    Reply

  22. I named my daughter madison after her dad because his name is mason.

    Reply

  23. We chose Madison because when my husband and I first started dating he came to pick me up for our first date and we found out we both lived in Madison street . That’s where all the magic started ?

    Reply

  24. I loved how it didn’t sound too girly but wasn’t masculine.

    Reply

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