Madelon
Feminine · “from Magdala”
English took Madeline from French and left this one behind. Madelon is an equally standard French form of the same name — the ending is a different French diminutive, the sort that closes a great many everyday French words — and English simply never picked it up, so it arrives sounding foreign in a way its sister does not.
How old is the name Madelon?
Madelon first appears in US birth records in 1897 — 128 years ago. The typical Madelon alive today was born around 1938, making them about 87 years old. About 700 people named Madelon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Madelon most popular?
Madelon peaked in 1920, reaching #1021 nationally. See the whole 1920 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Magdalene to Madelon
The story of Madelon
A song carried it to America. During the First World War a French music-hall number about a girl who serves wine to soldiers and flirts with all of them became the unofficial marching song of the French army, was sung by everybody on that front including the Americans who arrived later, and was recorded and printed and translated in enormous quantities. The name appears in American records climbing steadily through exactly those years. Songs move names more reliably than books do, because a soldier does not have to be able to read one.
Meaning
from Magdala
A place name used as a byname and then as a name in its own right. The town was on the Sea of Galilee and its own name is Hebrew; the sense identifies a person by where they were from.
How the name formed
- Magdalene
- Madeleine
- Madelon
Related forms: Madelon
Pronouncing Madelon
MAD-uh-lon
Three syllables with the stress at the front in English. French puts it on the last and nasalises the ending, which English does not attempt.
Nicknames for Madelon
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
- 1897
- Most girls named
- 192053 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1021reached in 1920
- Change vs 2015
- +20.0%6 in 2017, from 5
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.
Madelon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Madelon in French — same name
Madelons among us
people named Madelon are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Madelon sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Maddy sits inside it as a completely current short form.
- It is a genuine French form rather than an invented one.
- The rhythm is even and the spelling gives no trouble.
- Madeline is far commoner in English and will be substituted.
- The French pronunciation is unrecoverable from an English reading.
- The generation that used it in America is now very old.
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Madelon
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Madelons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Madelon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Madelon in 2025?
- Madelon is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Madelon with classmates?
- Madelon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Madelon? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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