How to say it
MAD · dox
/ˈmæd.əks/
Masculine
Maddox
Son of Madoc, 'fortunate'
What it means
Anglicized Welsh surname Madog or Madawg, 'son of Madoc' (the Welsh personal name probably meaning 'fortunate' or 'beneficent'). The 12th-century Madog ap Owain is a Welsh legendary figure said to have sailed to America before Columbus.
Maddox is the anglicization of the Welsh surname Madog or Madawg, 'son of Madoc.' The Welsh personal name Madoc probably means 'fortunate' or 'beneficent.' Madog ap Owain Gwynedd is a 12th-century Welsh figure of disputed historicity; legend has him sailing to North America in 1170, more than three centuries before Columbus, and his descendants becoming a tribe of Welsh-speaking Native Americans. The story was used as anti-Spanish propaganda by Elizabethan England. As a first name Maddox is recent American: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie adopted Maddox in 2002 and the name surged. It entered the US top 200 in 2008.
Popularity over time
peaked at #136 in 2017, currently #210 in 2025.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, names given to at least 5 babies in a year, 1880–present. See where the names are moving
Heads-up notes
- Pop culture
Brangelina's eldest, Maddox Jolie-Pitt (adopted 2002 from Cambodia), is the decisive English-language anchor for the modern first-name usage.
Who's worn it
Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.
- Maddox Jolie-Pitt Eldest son of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, adopted from Cambodia in 2002
- Madog ap Owain Gwynedd Welsh legendary prince said to have sailed to America in 1170
Spelling variants
- Madox
- Maddux
Names with the same feeling
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