Madonna
Meaning
my lady (Italian title of the Virgin Mary); famously borne by Madonna
The story
Madonna is Italian for my lady, the title given to the Virgin Mary in centuries of prayer and painting, and in the early twentieth century it had a modest life as a devotional choice among American Catholic families. Then one bearer swallowed the name whole. Madonna Louise Ciccone, named for her mother, left Michigan for New York and by the mid-1980s had made Like a Virgin, Vogue, and reinvention itself into pop's ruling grammar; she is often ranked the best-selling female recording artist in history. The name went the other way: her fame never produced a wave of little Madonnas, and the records show it quieter in recent decades than it was earlier, perhaps because the name now belongs so completely to one performer on stage and one figure in church that parents leave it be. Few names hold this much reverence and this much audacity at once.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Madonna peaked in the 1930s and the 1950s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
36 people · the #83,466 first name in Brazil · median age 33
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Madonna
People given the name Madonna in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1950 to 1979. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Madonna deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Madonna truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Madonna fits with your family’s names and surname.
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