Adalene
Feminine · “Old High German adal”
One Germanic word sits under more European names than any other. Adal meant noble, and it produced Adelaide, Adeline, Adela, Adelheid, Albert, Adolf, Ethel and, by a route almost nobody guesses, Alice. Adalene is that word with the old spelling still visible, before the d softened away.
How old is the name Adalene?
Adalene first appears in US birth records in 1887 — 138 years ago. The typical Adalene alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 500 people named Adalene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Adalene most popular?
Adalene peaked in 1887, reaching #1147 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 7,713 places below that high. See the whole 1887 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From adal to Adalene
The story of Adalene
Adal is the single most productive element in the Germanic name stock, and following it produces some genuine surprises. Adalheidis, noble kind, gave French Adelaide and German Adelheid, and by clipping and Norman handling also gave Adelais, then Alis, then Alice. Adalberht, noble bright, gave Albert. Adalwolf, noble wolf, gave Adolf. The English aethel is the same word in its native form and gave Ethel, Audrey through Aethelthryth, and the Aethelreds and Aethelstans of the Anglo-Saxon kings. That one syllable therefore underlies names that seem to have nothing in common, and the reason it spread so far is structural: Germanic naming built compounds from a small pool of prestige words, so a word meaning noble could be combined with almost anything and was.
Meaning
Old High German adal, noble
Adalene is a form of Adeline, a French diminutive of Adela, from Old High German adal, noble. The -ine and -ene endings are the French diminutive suffix, the same one in Caroline and Josephine. The spelling with a rather than e in the first syllable restores the original German vowel, which French had already changed by the eleventh century. The American peak is 1887.
How the name formed
- adal
- Adela
- Adeline
- Adalene
Related forms: Adeline · Adelheid · Adaline
Pronouncing Adalene
AD-uh-leen
Three syllables, stress on the first. Some families say ad-uh-LEEN or AD-uh-line. The -ene spelling favors the leen ending; Adaline favors line.
Nicknames for Adalene
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1887
- Most girls named
- 201546 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1147reached in 1887
- Change vs 2024
- −26.7%11 in 2025, from 15
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Adalene in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Adeline in French — same name
- Adelheid in German — related form
- Adaline in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Adalenes among us
people named Adalene are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Adalene
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Adalene sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Adalene beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Adalene in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ada and Addie are both established short forms.
- The spelling preserves the original Germanic vowel.
- It has a long documented history under several spellings.
- Adeline and Adaline are both commoner spellings.
- The final syllable is said two ways, leen and line.
- The 1887 peak makes it a genuinely Victorian name.
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Adalene
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Adalenes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Adalene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Adalene in 2025?
- Adalene ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Adalene?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Adalene — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Adalene with classmates?
- Adalene will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Adalene
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Adalene? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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