Madlen

Girls' name

Woman from Magdala, through Magdalene

Madlen has been given to 23 babies in the U.S. since 1914. 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 1999, with 8 recorded.

Babies named Madlen, 2018

1 in 703,000

Madlen 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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Madlen: meaning, origin, and history

Woman from Magdala, through Magdalene

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Madlen means

Madlen belongs to the name family reached through Madlen → Magdalene → Magdalena. Its meaning is “woman from Magdala”.

Origin, language, and formation

Madlen is used in German.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Magdalene and Magdalena.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 23 girls were recorded with the name Madlen between 1914 and 2018. Its highest annual count was 8 in 1999; its best national rank was #3,969 in 1914.

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 Madlen?

Madlen had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2018, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2018: 1 in 703,000; 5 of 3,516,853 births
Among girls only: 1 in 340,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2018: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 487,541 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Madlen 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 2018 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 487,541 children born in 2018 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Madlen. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Madlens were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Madlen was born before 1999 — so the typical Madlen is around 26 today.

Median birth year: 1999; About 26 years old
Biggest decade: 1990s; 34.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 56.5%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 13; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1990s — 34.8% of all recorded uses (8).

Is Madlen 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 1999 (8)
Years since peak: 26; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #3,969; 1914

Spellings of Madlen

Madlen is not the most common spelling — Marlene is, with 20.6% against Madlen's <0.01%.

Marlene20.6%130,573
Madelyn18.3%116,010
Mable8.4%53,251
Hadley7.4%46,595
Marley5.2%33,045
Madilyn3.7%23,632
Madalyn3.7%23,222
Marlee2.8%17,654

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.

Madlen around the world

Where Madlen 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.

England & Wales
1998–2025
#5,927
in 2025
South Australia
1956–1998
#710
in 1998

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Madlen 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: #3,969; 1914
Peak year: 1999; 8 that year
First recorded: 1914
Last recorded: 2018
All-time count: 23
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Madlen

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

Madylen Madilen Madelen Madalen Madely Madoka Madysn Madria Madlin Madaly Madaya Madrid Maddex Maddax Maddee Adelen Hollen Madene Heylen Madelle Madsion Madee Madena Madona

Sibling names for Madlen

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

Tatianna Caleigh Chyna Kaylah Calista Destini Carson Kayley

For a brother

Jaren Reyes Stone Devyn Garrison Tyrese Josef Donavon

Explore around Madlen

Top names of 1999, Madlen's peak year The 1990s in full Other names that peaked in 1914 Girls' names starting with M