Madden
- Pronunciation
- [Ma-dden]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Smalldog Milos
- Origin
- Irish
About the Name Madden
Madden is an Irish surname, anglicized from Ó Madáin, a Gaelic family name long established in the west of Ireland. Like many Irish surnames adopted as first names, it brings a sturdy, masculine ring and a strong heritage feel; some readings link the root to a sense of "little dog" or hound, and its surname character gives it the confident, no-frills sound parents increasingly favor in modern boys' names.
That surname-style strength is central to its appeal. Madden reads as bold and contemporary, pairing a crisp two-syllable rhythm with an unmistakable Celtic pedigree, and it fits naturally among the wave of last-name-first picks that have gained ground in recent decades. It is the kind of name that sounds equally at ease on a playground and a roster, projecting energy and a certain rugged charm.
Madden first entered the US Social Security top-1000 for boys in 2007 and has remained there every year since, reaching its peak in 2011 at rank #544. It held strong at #688 in 2024, with 392 boys given the name, and stood at #656 in 2022, having accumulated 6,885 boys across its top-1000 run. That consistency marks it as a robust, modern choice — one that has stayed comfortably in favor in the years since its arrival rather than flaring and fading, with the durable, lived-in feel of a true surname-name.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Madden
US Popularity History (2007–2025)
Annual US births named Madden by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2012 with 471 boys named Madden (boy rank #553 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #676 for boys (402 US births). That's 123 places below its 2012 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Madden Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Madden the strongest states are South Dakota, Utah, Nebraska.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Dakota | #269 | 16 |
| 2 | Utah | #299 | 156 |
| 3 | Nebraska | #336 | 40 |
| 4 | Idaho | #414 | 17 |
| 5 | Iowa | #436 | 62 |
| 6 | Louisiana | #492 | 98 |
| 7 | Mississippi | #502 | 43 |
| 8 | Oklahoma | #507 | 73 |
| 9 | Kansas | #511 | 40 |
| 10 | Arkansas | #524 | 56 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | #850 | 98 |
| 2 | Georgia | #837 | 75 |
| 3 | Texas | #819 | 275 |
| 4 | North Carolina | #799 | 62 |
| 5 | California | #765 | 286 |
| 6 | Illinois | #745 | 115 |
| 7 | Maryland | #731 | 20 |
| 8 | Washington | #729 | 80 |
| 9 | Michigan | #714 | 84 |
| 10 | Pennsylvania | #713 | 96 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Madden in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Looking for names like Madden?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Madden to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Madden against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).