A big screen mermaid made waves and launched the baby name Madison into the mainstream.
Thanks to Lou for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
MADISON MAKES A SPLASH
The year was 1984. A young Tom Hanks starred in a romantic comedy about a man and a mermaid, years before he became an Oscar-winning A-lister. His co-star, the one in the flippers, was Darryl Hannah, equally early in her career.
You might know this part of the fish tale. Hanks and Hannah go shopping. He asks her name, and she insists it can’t be said in English. He replies “Then just say it in your language.” Her high-pitched squeaks shatter the television screens.
They’re trying to find a non-glass-shattering alternative while they’re walking down Madison Avenue. He rattles off names like Jennifer and Linda, then reads the street name of a sign.
She replies, “Madison? I like Madison.”
He tries to talk her out of it, but … well, the rest is history.
Splash hit it big at the box office. Madison inspired thousands of parents to name their daughter after a mermaid who named herself after a street.
MADELINE MEETS ALLISON
But it isn’t that simple – or that silly.
During the 1980s, Allison and Alison ranked in the US Top 100. Other girls’ names ending with N, like Megan, Erin, and Lauren, reached the Top 100 and even the Top Ten.
Classic Madeline experienced a comeback during the 1980s, too. In 1978, Madeline ranked #704. By 1984, the name climbed to #623. As of 1986, it reached #288. Why? We were all watching Maddie and David on television smash hit Moonlighting. It updated the traditional favorite for a new generation.
It was a pop culture perfect storm. Splash put Madison on the map, and Moonlighting prompted parents to consider other ways to get to Maddie.
WHAT DOES MADISON MEAN?
But where did Madison come from in the first place?
Thanks to Hamilton, we all think of Founding Father James Madison. (New York City named Madison Avenue in his honor.)
Novelist Madison Smartt Bell and baseball player Madison Bumgarner remind us that the surname sometimes became a masculine given name.
The -son ending means “son of,” while the first syllable might refer to Matthew or Maud.
Some parents voice frustration that a name meaning “son of” ought to remain masculine. I’d counter that “son of” means “descendant of.” And really, we don’t require a child named Hunter or Mason to hunt wild game or lay bricks, so the argument feels a little flimsy.
In any case, if Madison means “son of Matthew,” then that translates to “son of a gift of God.” For Maud, read “son of strength in battle.”
HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME MADISON?
The baby name Madison enjoyed steady but limited use for boys for years, peaking in the 1880s and leaving the Top 1000 in the 1950s.
Following Splash’s success, Madison debuted in US Top 1000 for girls at #625 in 1985.
By 1994, Madison reached the Top 100. The name peaked at #2 in 2001 and 2002, making it one of the most popular choices for girls of all-time.
As of 2023, the name Madison ranked #36 – still very common, though not nearly as popular.
Maddie names, of course, go well beyond Madison and Madeline, including:
- Madison
- Madelyn
- Madeline
- Maddison
- Madilyn
- Madeleine
- Madalyn
- Madisyn
- Madelynn
- Madyson
- Madalynn
- Maddilynn
Also noteworthy: Madison rose for boys after it caught parents’ attention for their daughters. After decades spent dormant, briefly returning to the boys’ Top 1000 from 1987 through 1999.
More Mad- names for boys, including Maddox and Madden, became stylish in the same era.
MODERN FAVORITE MADISON
All of this makes Madison a 1990s equivalent of 1970s smash hit Jennifer. We’d never really considered it a given name, until it became The Name on everyone’s list.
With the passing of time, the association with Splash has faded. Today, it’s just a long-time favorite name for a daughter, a modern choice that feels absolutely right in our world today. Given that peak Madison was more than 20 years ago, we’re all about to encounter doctors, teachers, and airline pilots with the name Madison.
And maybe in another century? Madison will be on the list of vintage gems parents are considering for a comeback.
What do you think of the baby name Madison?
First published on May 13, 2011, this post was revised on September 20, 2024.
Madison is one of the few names that I really truly dislike. I’m quite against surnames as first names, particularly on girls. Unless, of course, it’s a case as Catherine mentioned where it’s a legitimate family name.
I also don’t like names that seem as if they appeared out of thin air and then parents rushed toward them in hordes. If I ever choose a popular name for my child it will be something with historical and religious weight, like Hannah or Leah.
However like Lola, I think Madison is better Morgan (and she beats Mackenzie and Mikayla for me as well!). Now Morgana, that’s one I could get on board with… 🙂
I love Morgana! One little letter makes all the difference
Yes! Morgana is lovely 🙂 It always surprises me how much one little letter can change how we feel about a name.
I don’t hate it. But it’s a bit too obvious. Also, its usage in Splash was a joke. The idea of a mermaid picking the street name was a joke. A JOKE. We weren’t to take it seriously. But still. Not hate.
As Abby’s heard before, I know a girl who had a dog named Maddie. Then she had a baby girl and named her Madison. And then she had another baby girl and named her Madeline (pronounced MAD-a-lyn). So, clearly there are people out there that just love the sound of it.
I prefer Madeline over Madison, which was on my list the first time I was pregnant. Had I had a chance to use it, I’d have a Maddie who was just one of many in school. Am I better off with my Ethan? Well, *I* think so. 😉
I think about Maddie, Madeline, and Madison all the time – I honestly can’t imagine having them all under one roof!
Honestly, I really just don’t like the sound of Madison. Or Addison. Or any spin-off it may spawn to get to Maddie/Addie. The sound, more than anything, just grates on me… A lot.
While I’m not drawn to popular names, there are plenty of lovely ones, and I don’t think you can hold the ubiquitous nature of a name against it. Though, you can certainly wonder why in the heck someone seeking an uncommon or unique name would gravitate towards something like Madison/Madyson/Madisyn (any others?). I think that is where the problem really lies. Claim it and own it, I guess, differing tastes be darned.
Any others? Of course! In the SSA 2010 Top 1000:
#8 Madison 1,370 baby girls given the name
#293 Maddison 1,103
#338 Madisyn 943
#444 Madyson 688
And Beyond the Top 1000:
Madisen 152
Madysen 150
Maddisyn 83
Maddyson 70
Maddison 41
Madasyn 47
Madisynn 23
Madysin 22
Maddisen 19
Madisun 16
Madysyn 14
Madason 10
Madysson 10
Madesyn 9
Madysun 7
Madasen 6
Madisin 6
Madasin 5
Madisan 5
Madysan 5
Madysan 5
Formula for making the name of your Madison unique:
Begin with Mad_s_n
Add your preferred vowels in the blanks
Double the d or s for added flair
I like the nn Maddi; don’t like ‘son’ for a girl, but do like the Japanese look of ‘san’ on the end of the name, so how about Maddisan? It’s now a unique name — not on the list above. 😉
That is QUITE a list, Patricia! Thanks for the sleuthing.
haha, I knew there were others, I just didn’t have the time to search/think of all the variations that could exist. It was more rhetorical…
But as Abby said, thanks for the sleuthing!
I think parents mean very different things when they say “different.” You hear it all the time: “I want a different name, not like all the Jennifers and Heathers.” But then they name their daughter Ava Madison. What they mean is that they want a name that is different from their memories of childhood. They’re not concerned with whether or not their child has to share.
I really dislike this name, whether on a girl or a boy (more on a girl obv). It’s just the sound, I don’t really like any names starting with mad-. The popularity of Madison on girls kinda reminds me of Ariel. Boy name used on a mermaid and suddenly there’s a huge amount of little girls using the name.
Caroline makes a good point–I just wish that the parents naming little Madisons today would just stick with the original spelling and quit trying to make a common name unique through tricked-up spelling. It just doesn’t work that way.
My main gripe with Madison is that its popularity renders my mother’s middle name, Madigan, unusable on a boy or a girl. I hate that.
Oh, I don’t think Madigan is unusable! I really like it and it sounds very distinct from Madison to me. Plus, the ‘it’s a family name’ pedigree makes up for a lot!
Madigan has been one of my favorites since I discovered Elvira Madigan! But the story is way too tragic to let that inspire a child’s name. If Madigan were on my family tree, I’d be ALL about it. Plus you could possibly use Maggie as a nickname to stand out from all the Maddies.
Use Madigan as a middle name! 😀 Problem solved!
I hadn’t thought of Maggie as a nickname–that does set it apart from the Maddies! It goes back on the list! Thanks ladies!
You know, all things considered, I really don’t mind Madison. The sound is nice to my ears, it can be used to honor an American hero, Maddie is fine. For some reason, it doesn’t strike me as quite so striving as Addison. The problem, of course, is the epidemic number and the spelling variations that take it very down-market.
Madison is definitely not on my top 10 list, or top 100 for that matter, but for those people who like popular, nonscary names that will allow their daughter to fit in easily, Madison isn’t the worst name I can think of. Not everyone wants a Persephone, you know?
I loathe surname names (unless it is a legitimate family name – say the mother was Jane Anne Madison at birth, takes her husband’s name and then gives one of her children – HOPEFULLY a boy – the name Madison). I do love Madeleine but the Madeline spelling (as well as Madalyn, Madasynn and other abominations) I wish would vanish.
@Lola – Morgan is actually a legitimate female name. Morgan le Fay from Arthurian mythology ring a bell? 🙂
(Abby! Do Morgan/Morgana as a name of the day!)
I’ve never liked the name Madison as a girls’ name. For me, it has frivolous roots – a movie in which a mermaid gives herself the name of the nearest street — Madison. Too, “son” holds no appeal for me as part of any name given to a girl (including Allison). I think Madison would have made a fine presidential boys’ name, along the lines of Jackson and Harrison, had that mermaid chosen a different street sign for her name!
I’m not a fan of obvious surnames on girls, so Madison just makes me sad. Mad- is an unattractive sound and -son just doesn’t belong on girls. *shrug* I do think Madison beats Morgan on a girl, though. Maddy’s at least girly sounding,but Morgan’s got nothing girly at all. So Madison fits somewhere out there. But I still could never use it. If I want a strong name for my girls, I’ll use feminizations: Josephine, Philippa, Georgiana, Wilhelmina. And I’ll second that grown up Madison thought. Hope is all I’ve got left!
I just can’t like this name. There is nothing that I find appealing. I love Madeline, but Madison just seems so bland to me.