Adaline
Feminine · “noble”
Adaline is the English spelling that leans on the letter A: the same name as Adeline, which reached English through Norman French, built on the old Germanic word for noble. It has a long, unbroken presence in American records, and the 2015 film The Age of Adaline put this exact spelling in front of a new generation. Four syllables, three of them light, and a whole set of ready-made short forms waiting inside it.
How old is the name Adaline?
Adaline was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Adaline is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 17,000 people named Adaline are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Adaline most popular?
Adaline peaked in 2016, reaching #172 nationally. Today it ranks #208, 36 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Adaline appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Adal to Adaline
The story of Adaline
The story begins with the Germanic name element adal, "noble", which produced short names like Adela and Adala among the Frankish nobility. Latin writers extended these into Adelina, and Norman French carried Adeline into England after the Conquest, where it stayed in use through the medieval period. English and American spelling was loose for centuries, and Adaline emerged as one of the settled variants, sitting alongside Adeline in nineteenth-century family Bibles and census pages on both sides of the Atlantic. The Adeline branch stayed better known through the old barbershop standard "Sweet Adeline"; the Adaline spelling has had its own revival more recently.
Meaning
noble
The root is Germanic adal, "noble", the same element behind Adela, Adele and Adelina; Adaline and Adeline are Latinate diminutive forms of it.
How the name formed
- Adal
- Adela
- Adelina
- Adeline
- Adaline
Related forms: Adeline · Adelina · Adelina · Adele · Adelina · Adelina
Pronouncing Adaline
AD-uh-line
The most common American reading rhymes the last syllable with "line". Some families say AD-uh-lin, and the -leen ending belongs more to Adelina. Whichever you choose, expect to state it once when introducing her.
Nicknames for Adaline
High
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 20171,678 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #172reached in 2016
- Change vs 2022
- +16.1%1,446 in 2025, from 1,246
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.
Adaline in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Adeline in French — same name
- Adelina in Italian — related form
- Adelina in Spanish — related form
- Adele in German — related form
- Adelina in Polish — related form
- Adelina in Portuguese — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Adalines among us
people named Adaline are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,112 born in 2025 was named Adaline
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Dianna test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Adaline's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dianna climbed just as high around 1948, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dianna's path sketches the road Adaline is walking now.
Adaline is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Adaline is headed
Adaline should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Adaline beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Adaline in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two ready-made short forms, Addie and Ada, both of which also work as full names on a document.
- The meaning is settled and simple: noble, from the Germanic root adal.
- Recognizable to most English speakers through the near-twin spelling Adeline, so it is never an unfamiliar shape.
- Present in American records continuously, and used in French, Italian, Spanish and Polish forms across Europe.
- Currently familiar without being crowded — most classrooms hold just one.
- The A-versus-E problem is permanent. Adeline is the better-known spelling, and Adaline will be written back at her as Adeline, Adalyn or Adelyn for life. Nothing serious, but it means spelling it out often.
- The final syllable has no single agreed sound — AD-uh-line and AD-uh-lin both circulate — so people will guess, and sometimes guess differently.
- It is climbing, and quickly. A name that feels uncommon now may be considerably more familiar by the time she starts school; the Addie/Adalyn/Adeline cluster is busy overall.
- Its wave is very recent, so nearly everyone carrying this spelling right now is a child — it reads as a young name rather than an inherited one.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Adaline
Feminine · #208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Adalines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 17,000 people named Adaline are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Adaline in 2025?
- Adaline ranks #208 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,446 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Adaline?
- About 1 in every 1,112 US girls born in 2025 was named Adaline — 1,446 in all.
- Will my child share the name Adaline with classmates?
- Adaline will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Adaline
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Bailey#208 · Celine#207 · Jasmine#206 · Myla#210 · Aitana#211 · Vera#205 · Kylie#204 · Zara#212
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Adaline? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Adaline and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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