Madelen

Girls' name

Variant of Madeleine

Madelen has been given to 55 babies in the U.S. since 1918. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 2000, with 8 recorded.

Babies named Madelen, 2011

1 in 457,000

Madelen over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Madelen: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Madeleine

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Madelen means

Madelen is a variant of Madeleine.

Origin, language, and formation

Madelen is used in Norwegian.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Madeleine.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 55 girls were recorded with the name Madelen between 1918 and 2011. Its highest annual count was 8 in 2000; its best national rank was #5,288 in 1918.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Madelen?

Madelen had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2011, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2011: 1 in 457,000; 8 of 3,657,935 births
Among girls only: 1 in 220,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2011: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 316,937 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Madelen sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2011 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 316,937 children born in 2011 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Madelen. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Madelens were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Madelen was born before 2004 — so the typical Madelen is around 21 today.

Median birth year: 2004; About 21 years old
Biggest decade: 2000s; 56.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 90.9%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 50; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2000s — 56.4% of all recorded uses (31).

Is Madelen rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 2000 (8)
Years since peak: 25; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 36.9% average annual change
Best rank ever: #5,288; 1918

Spellings of Madelen

Madelen is not the most common spelling — Madeline is, with 37.5% against Madelen's <0.01%.

Madeline37.5%207,385
Madelyn21.0%116,010
Madeleine8.3%45,722
Adele7.7%42,362
Madilyn4.3%23,632
Adelyn4.3%23,612
Madalyn4.2%23,222
Madelynn3.4%18,937

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Madelen around the world

Where Madelen ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

Norway
1880–2025
#189
in 2025
South Australia
2002–2008
#796
in 2008

Popularity data from Statistics Norway and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Madelen by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #5,288; 1918
Peak year: 2000; 8 that year
First recorded: 1918
Last recorded: 2011
All-time count: 55
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Madelen

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Madalen Madylen Madlen Madilen Madhavi Madysson Madellyn Madlynn Madhuri Madylan Madilee Madasin Madely Madinah Madalina Madeley Madella Madlene Madilin Madalie Madeeha Madysun Madelis Madolin

Sibling names for Madelen

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Nada Sydnie Sydni Savana Brigid Jackeline Gabriel Halie

For a brother

Donavon Kevon Keshawn Syed Koby Shamar Johnson Lars

Explore around Madelen

Top names of 2000, Madelen's peak year The 2000s in full Other names that peaked in 1918 Girls' names starting with M