Humanverse

Madgie vs Madison

American parents have registered 427,675 Madisons since 1880, against 579 Madgies. Madison is still ahead, with 4,963 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Madgie against Madison, 1880 to 2025 0 6k 12k 18k 24k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Madgie Madison

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 145 years in which either name was published, Madison for 144 years and Madgie for 1 year. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Madgie Madison
Total US births 579427,675
Most in one year 2322,292
Babies in 2025 under 54,963
Estimated living today 60421,000
Median age today 8520
Peak year 19172001
Best rank 1,605th girls2nd girls
Rank in 2025 unranked40th
First recorded 18871880
Girls / boys 579 / 0419,806 / 7,869

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Madgies alive today are over 85; half the Madisons are over 20. That is 65 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Madgie and Madison.