Adeline
Feminine · Germanic roots · “Noble”
Adeline is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 80,812 girls against 26 boys since 1880.
Adeline arrived in English with the Normans — a French pet form of Adele, built on an old Germanic word for noble. It also owns a song: "You're the Flower of My Heart, Sweet Adeline," published in 1903 and harmonized by barbershop quartets ever since, which is why the spelling looks familiar to people who have never met anyone called it. Three syllables with a soft landing, ending in either a long i or a long e depending on the speaker.
How old is the name Adeline?
Adeline was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Adeline is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 53,000 people named Adeline are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Adeline most popular?
Adeline peaked in 2024, reaching #58 nationally. Today it ranks #59, 1 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Where it comes from
From adal (Germanic element, "noble") to Adeline
The story of Adeline
The root is Frankish and Germanic: adal, noble, an element that fed dozens of early medieval names. Old French turned Adele into the affectionate Adeline, and Norman speakers carried it across the Channel after 1066, where it settled into English records alongside its cousins Adela and Adelaide. The nineteenth century revived it, in Britain, France and America alike, and the 1903 parlour song "Sweet Adeline" fixed the spelling in the American ear for good. It has been in US records continuously ever since, quiet for long stretches and now climbing hard.
Meaning
Noble
From the Germanic element adal, "noble", the same root behind Adele, Adelaide and Alice. Adeline is the French diminutive form of that root — roughly "little noble one".
How the name formed
- adalGermanic element, "noble"
- Adela
- Adèle
- Adeline
Related forms: Adeline · Adelina · Adelina · Adelina · Adelheid · Adaline
Pronouncing Adeline
AD-uh-line
AD-uh-line, rhyming with "line", is the usual American reading. AD-uh-leen is also common and is closer to the French. Both are correct; you will simply be choosing one and repeating it.
Nicknames for Adeline
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
- 20164,120 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #58reached in 2024
- Change vs 2022
- +36.8%3,864 in 2025, from 2,825
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.
Adeline in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Adeline in French — same name
- Adelina in Italian — related form
- Adelina in Spanish — related form
- Adelina in Portuguese — related form
- Adelheid in German — related form
- Adaline in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida. International figures from Statistics Canada. Sources
Adelines among us
people named Adeline are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 416 born in 2025 was named Adeline
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 Ellen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Adeline's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ellen climbed just as high around 1946, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ellen's path sketches the road Adeline is walking now.
Adeline 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 Adeline is headed
Adeline 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.
Adeline beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Adeline in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short forms are already in place and need no explaining — Addie, Ada, Lina, Della — so the name flexes from formal to casual without effort.
- A documented line running from medieval French through nineteenth-century revival to the present, unbroken in English-language records.
- Recognizable in French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese in nearly the same shape, and charting in Canada as well as the US.
- Spelled the way it sounds once the ending is settled, and familiar to Americans from the barbershop standard "Sweet Adeline".
- Two pronunciations circulate, -line and -leen, so expect to correct people occasionally for life. Choosing early and saying it consistently does most of the work.
- It sits in a crowded field: Adalyn, Adelyn, Adaline, Adelaide and Madeline all sound close, and forms get confused on paperwork.
- The name is rising quickly. It is uncommon in a classroom now, but a child born this year may meet more of them than the current picture suggests.
- Addie is shared with several other rising names, so the nickname will be less distinctive than the full form.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Adeline to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Adeline
Feminine · Germanic roots · #59 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Adelines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 53,000 people named Adeline are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Adeline in 2025?
- Adeline ranks #59 among US girl names in 2025, with 3,864 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Adeline?
- About 1 in every 416 US girls born in 2025 was named Adeline — 3,864 in all.
- Will my child share the name Adeline with classmates?
- Adeline will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Adeline
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Leilani#60 · Leah#58 · Iris#61 · Lillian#57 · Maya#62 · Hannah#56 · Sophie#55 · Clara#63
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Adeline? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Adeline and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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