Madison (name)

Madison (name)

Originally, Madison, commonly spelled Maddison (with a double 'd') in Northeastern England, was only used as a surname, a variant of Mathieson meaning son of Matthew, although possibly occasionally standing for son of Maddy, where Maddy is a pet form of Maud.

Madison has become a rather popular female given name in the United States. According to the Social Security Administration's statistics, from a practically non-existent girl's name before 1985, Madison rose to being the second most popular name, after Emily, given to female babies in 2001. This phenomenal rise in popularity has been attributed to the 1984 movie Splash, where Daryl Hannah plays a mermaid who adopts the name "Madison" in her human form after seeing a street sign for Madison Avenue. When she makes this selection, Tom Hanks's character initially protests: "But Madison isn't a name!"

The name has begun to see a decline in popularity in the past few years, slipping to #7 by 2009.

Madison is also a male given name. According to the Social Security Administration, Madison can be found within the top 1,000 names for boys up until about 1952. Madison returned to the top 1,000 ranked boy's names in 1987, remaining there through 1999, and it also was the 858th most common boys' name in 2004, but it remains uncommon as a male given name in the United States.