Name Awesome

Mads

#3,911 in 2025Boys' name

Short form of Mathias

Mads has been given to 254 babies in the U.S. since 2011. In 2025 it ranked #3,911 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2021, with 30 recorded.

Babies named Mads, 2025

1 in 118,000

Mads over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Mads: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Mathias

Danish

What Mads means

Mads is a short form of Mathias.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Mads → Mathias → Matthias → Matthias. The family’s meaning is “gift of God”, recorded in Latin with the source elements Mattiṯyā́hū.

Origin, language, and formation

Mads is used in Danish and Norwegian. Its origins include Danish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Mathias, Mats and Matthew.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 254 boys were recorded with the name Mads between 2011 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 30 in 2021; its best national rank was #3,703 in 2021.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #4,361 in 2020 to #3,911 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #6,559 in 2015 to #3,911 in 2025.

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 Mads?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 118,000
28 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 61,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#3,911
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
82,069 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Mads sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 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 82,069 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Mads. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Madss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Mads was born before 2021 — so the typical Mads is around 4 today.

Median birth year
2021
About 4 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
64.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
254
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 64.2% of all recorded uses (163).

Is Mads 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
−55
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+450
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+2,648
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.15×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
93.3%
Peak was 2021 (30)
Years since peak
4
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
30.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#3,703
2021

Spellings of Mads

Mads is not the most common spelling — Mark is, with 68.8% against Mads's 0.01%.

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.

Mads around the world

Where Mads 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
    1997–2025
    #4,275
    in 2025
  • France
    2021–2025
    #6,295
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #274
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2018–2024
    #2,855
    in 2024

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. SSB data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Mads by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#3,911
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 450
Best rank ever
#3,703
2021
Peak year
2021
30 that year
First recorded
2011
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
254
Count in 2025
28

Names similar to Mads

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

MadoxMadixMaddyxMadsenMaddonMadocMaddaxMadhavMaddoxxMadyxMadexMaddexMaddixMaddocMaddockMadenMadanMadduxMadelineMaduxMaddynMaddenMadoxxMaddin

Sibling names for Mads

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

Explore around Mads

Top names of 2021, Mads's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2021Boys' names starting with MDanish Boy Names