Madelaine
Feminine · “Of Magdala”
Madelaine is French Madeleine with the vowels rearranged, and it is one of the older American variants of that name — its peak is the 1940s, decades before the -lyn spellings arrived. Underneath is Magdala, the fishing town on the Sea of Galilee.
How old is the name Madelaine?
Madelaine first appears in US birth records in 1901 — 124 years ago. The typical Madelaine alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 2,900 people named Madelaine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Madelaine most popular?
Madelaine peaked in 1942, reaching #1037 nationally. Today it ranks #5238, 4,201 places below that high. See the whole 1942 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Magdalēnē to Madelaine
The story of Madelaine
French Madeleine has been ordinary since the Middle Ages and gave English Madeline, Madeleine and Madelaine in various proportions at various times. The medieval English pronunciation of the name produced the ordinary word maudlin, from the tradition of showing the Magdalene weeping. Its American record shows steady use through the first half of the twentieth century, with the Madelaine spelling peaking in the 1940s, and the whole family climbing again very steeply from the 1990s — by which time the -lyn spellings dominated. Madeline Kahn and the Madeline books of Ludwig Bemelmans, beginning in 1939, kept the standard spelling visible throughout.
Meaning
Of Magdala
From Greek Magdalēnē, of Magdala, from Hebrew migdal, a tower. Mary Magdalene took the epithet from her town, and it became a name throughout Christendom. The reading is settled. Madelaine is a variant spelling of French Madeleine; the transposed vowels have no separate history.
How the name formed
- Magdalēnē
- Madeleine
- Madelaine
Related forms: Madeleine · Magdalena · Magdalena · Madeline · Madeleine
Pronouncing Madelaine
MAD-uh-line
Three syllables, stress on the first, with the last rhyming with line in American use. French Madeleine is mad-LEN, with two syllables and no long i at all.
Nicknames for Madelaine
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
- 1901
- Most girls named
- 1995109 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1037reached in 1942
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%24 in 2025, from 24
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.
Madelaine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Madeleine in French — spelling variant
- Magdalena in German — related form
- Magdalena in Spanish — related form
- Madeline in English — spelling variant
- Madeleine in Swedish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Madelaines among us
people named Madelaine are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 66,969 born in 2025 was named Madelaine
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 Vicenta test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Madelaine's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Vicenta climbed just as high around 1907, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Vicenta's path sketches the road Madelaine is walking now.
Madelaine 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
Madelaine beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Madelaine in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Magdalene history is deep, documented and easy to explain.
- Maddy and Lena are both warm, ordinary short forms.
- The spelling contains Elaine, which is a pleasant accident.
- Madeline and Madeleine are both commoner and will be written for it.
- The final syllable is said as -line, -lyn and -len by different people.
- It sits inside an enormous and confusing family of spellings.
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What they receive
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Madelaine
Feminine · #5238 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Madelaines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,900 people named Madelaine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Madelaine in 2025?
- Madelaine ranks #5238 among US girl names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Madelaine?
- About 1 in every 66,969 US girls born in 2025 was named Madelaine — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Madelaine with classmates?
- Madelaine will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Madelaine
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Irena#5238 · Esma#5238 · Dagny#5238 · Venice#5238 · Lisbeth#5238 · Loralie#5238 · Alania#5238 · Erma#5238
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Madelaine? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Madelaine and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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