Madison: How a Mermaid Made a Medieval Surname Famous

Madison started out in medieval England as a surname, spent most of the 20th century as a rare first name given occasionally to boys in honour of the American president, and then in 1984 got picked as a joke by a mermaid in a Tom Hanks film. Within seventeen years it was the second most popular girls' name in the United States. No other name in modern English owes this much of its life to a single scene in a romantic comedy.

Madison at a Glance

Origin & Meaning

Madison started as an English surname, first recorded in Durham in the north of England. The earliest documented bearer is a man called Thomas Maddyson, who appears in a Durham record from 1379. Around the same period a John Madyston appears in a 1398 legal document about local land inheritance. By the end of the 14th century, the surname was established in northern English communities.

The medieval English root of the name is not agreed on by scholars, and two competing theories appear in the reference books.

The most widely cited theory says Madison meant "son of Maddy", and that Maddy was a medieval nickname for the woman's name Maud. Maud was the ordinary English vernacular form of Matilda, the Germanic name Queen Matilda of Flanders brought to England when she arrived as the wife of William the Conqueror in 1066. Matilda came from the Old High German Mahthildis, which combined the elements maht ("might, strength") and hild ("battle").

If that theory is correct, Madison is a rare example of an English matronymic surname. Almost every "-son" surname in English (Johnson, Williamson, Jackson, Harrison) points back to a father. Madison would point back to a mother, which historians treat as evidence that the woman in question was the more prominent parent for some reason: usually a widow, an heiress, or the more socially visible of the two.

The competing theory is simpler. Etymonline and several other etymologists argue that Madison is a variant of Mathieson, meaning "son of Matthew." Under this reading, "Maddy" was a diminutive of Matthew rather than Maud, and the name is an ordinary patronymic that happened to end up spelled in an unusual way.

Both theories are still cited in serious reference works. The root meaning of the name depends on which one you accept: "strength in battle" via Matilda, or "gift of God" via Matthew (which comes from the Hebrew Mattityahu).

The Surname Crosses the Atlantic

Madison the surname was carried to America during the colonial period and by the 18th century belonged to several established families. The most famous of these produced James Madison (1751–1836), the fourth President of the United States. Madison drafted large parts of the US Constitution and wrote much of the Federalist Papers, which is why he is often called the "Father of the Constitution."

James Madison died in June 1836, and later that year the newly formed capital of the Wisconsin Territory was named Madison in his honour. Around the same period a road in Manhattan being newly laid out was named Madison Avenue, also after him. The city of Madison, Wisconsin, still bears his name today, and so do around fifteen other American towns and cities.

Throughout the 19th century, some American families used Madison as a first name for boys as a tribute to the president, but the numbers were tiny. According to Social Security records, fewer than a dozen baby boys per year were given the name in the closing decades of the 1800s. Etymonline notes that Madison did not appear in the top 1,000 girls' names in America once between 1933 and the early 1980s.

How a Mermaid Changed Everything

In March 1984, Ron Howard's romantic comedy Splash was released by the newly created Touchstone Pictures. It starred Tom Hanks as a New York produce salesman who falls in love with a mermaid played by Daryl Hannah. The film cost $11 million to make and earned $69.8 million at the box office, which made it the tenth highest-grossing film of 1984 and Tom Hanks's first major hit.

There is a small scene early in the film where Hannah's character, who has come ashore in New York and cannot pronounce her real mermaid name, needs to pick a human name. She and Hanks are walking down a Manhattan street. She sees a road sign for Madison Avenue and takes the word off the sign. Hanks's character replies: "Madison? That's not a name."

In 1984 that line got a laugh because Madison genuinely was not used as a first name for women. It was a president's surname, a Wisconsin city, and a Manhattan avenue known for advertising agencies.

The Social Security Administration then recorded one of the fastest single-name rises in American statistical history. Madison went from the 216th most popular girls' name in the United States in 1990, to 29th by 1995, to 3rd by 2000, to 2nd in 2001. It stayed in the American top 10 for girls continuously from 1997 to 2015. Daryl Hannah has said in interviews that she now meets Madisons everywhere, and finds it slightly funny given that "the whole point of me choosing that name was because it was such a silly name."

Two well-known books have separately credited Splash with this transformation: Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (2006), and Steven Pinker's The Stuff of Thought (2007).

Modern Use & Appeal

Madison peaked as a girls' name in the US in 2001 at number 2, and has gradually cooled since then. In 2024 it sat comfortably inside the American top 100, which is a remarkable run for a name that only appeared in 1985. It has also spread across the English-speaking world, becoming a common choice in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, though at lower levels than in the US.

In the United Kingdom, Madison has never taken off in the same way. It sits well outside the top 100 girls' names in England and Wales and has never come close to the popularity it holds in America. British parents tend to see it as an American import, and stick to their own vintage revival names such as Ivy, Florence, and Elsie. For UK parents specifically, this means a daughter named Madison is unlikely to share the name with anyone else in her class.

The nickname Maddie is separately common in the UK as a standalone name, and works as a middle ground for parents who like the sound but do not want the full American surname-name feel.

Famous People Named Madison

• James Madison (1751–1836), fourth President of the United States, principal author of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
• Dolley Madison (1768–1849), his wife, remembered particularly for saving a portrait of George Washington from the White House when British troops burned it during the War of 1812.
• Madison Beer (b. 5 March 1999), American singer and songwriter, discovered on YouTube at 13 by Justin Bieber.
• Madison Bumgarner (b. 1 August 1989), American baseball player, World Series MVP with the San Francisco Giants in 2014.
• Madison Cawthorn (b. 1995), American politician, briefly the youngest US Congressman in modern history.
• Madison Keys (b. 17 February 1995), American professional tennis player, US Open finalist in 2017.
• Madison Iseman (b. 14 February 1997), American actress known for the Jumanji films (2017, 2019).

Nicknames, Middle Names, and Everyday Practicalities

Madison is a three-syllable name that shortens easily. Maddie or Maddy is by far the most common everyday form, and works as a standalone name for parents who want the sound without the full length. Mads has a slightly older, sportier feel. In American families, Sonny and Addie occasionally appear as alternatives.

For middle names, Madison pairs well with shorter, cleaner options that balance its length: Madison Grace, Madison Rose, Madison Kate, Madison Jane, Madison Faye, Madison Elle, Madison Claire, and Madison Louise are all popular combinations. Two-syllable middle names starting with a vowel (Madison Ava, Madison Elle) tend to flow best.

For sibling names, Madison sits naturally alongside other American-style modern surname-first-names: Addison, Harper, Emerson, Ellison, Kennedy, and Peyton for sisters; Jackson, Mason, Hudson, Cooper, Carson, and Grayson for brothers. It also works next to shorter classics: Ava, Ella, Grace, and Chloe for sisters; Owen, Ethan, Noah, and Liam for brothers.

Final Thoughts

Madison began as a rare medieval English surname, possibly matronymic and possibly not. It survived quietly for six centuries as a family name, briefly became a boys' first name in America in honour of a president, and remained unused for girls until a Ron Howard film in 1984 turned it into a joke that stopped being a joke. Within seventeen years it had reached number 2 in the US girls' name charts.

The meaning depends on which etymology you accept: "strength in battle" via Matilda, or "gift of God" via Matthew.

In the UK, Madison remains uncommon, which for some parents will be a point in its favour and for others a reason to look at the closer-to-home alternatives Matilda and Maud, both of which are back in fashion.