Mads

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 13 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Mads is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• French given name909 records spelled Mads4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Norway, Spain, United States

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Mad'S, Mâds

• a separate given name572 records spelled Mads2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Norway, United Kingdom, Switzerland

  Also written Mäds

• Croatian given name169 records spelled Mads8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Norway, Croatia, United States, Bulgaria

  Languages: Croatian, Bulgarian

  Also written Мадс, Máds

36 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Mads is also recorded in 4 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, third-person singular simple present indicative of mad

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In ltg, honey

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• Danish form of MATTHEW .

  as a word

• In Latvian, Medus

  as a word·Tēzaurs.lv (Dictionary and Thesaurus of Latvian, AiLab / LU MII)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

NO SSB — Navn (1880–present) — 80 years between 1945–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Edvard Helstedb. 1816DKnot in their usual nameDanish violinist and composer (1816–1900)
• Mads Dittmann Mikkelsenb. 1965DKDanish actor (born 1965)
• Mads Brüggerb. 1972DKDanish filmmaker and TV host
• Mads Riisomb. 1978DKDanish actor
• Mads Junkerb. 1981DKDanish footballer
• Mads Christiansenb. 1986DKDanish handball player
• Mads Pedersenb. 1995DKDanish cyclist, born 1995
• Mads Pedersenb. 1996DKDanish association football player (1996-)
• Mads Hermansenb. 2000DKDanish association football player (born 2000)
• Mads Bidstrupb. 2001DKDanish association football player

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 316 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Mads?

We estimate roughly 38 thousand people bear Mads (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Mads have the most bearers?

We estimate about 32 thousand people bear Mads in Denmark, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled mads.

Where is Mads most common?

Mads is densest in Denmark, where the national register counts about 1 in 182 people carrying it.

How common is Mads compared with other names?

In Denmark, Mads is the 20th most common given name of 31,396 given names recorded there.

Is Mads a male or female name?

Mads is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Mads mean?

Recorded meaning: männl. Vom., dänische Kurzform von