Madonna

Where Madonna comes from

From Italian madonna, from Old Italian ma (“my”) + donna (“lady”). The given name is derived from the English term, not used as a given name in Italy. Doublet of madam.
— Wiktionary's entry for Madonna
  • Italian
  • 3 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1897
    First appearance
    #1,385 among girls, 6 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1933
    Peak, #533
    142 babies named Madonna — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1973
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,433.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Italian.
Namesakes

No widely known Madonna turns up in the encyclopedias yet — the name is still all theirs to make famous.

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.