Maudine
Feminine · “Mighty in battle”
Maudine adds a French ending to a name that French had already worn down. Mathilda became Mahaut in Old French and Maud in English; putting a French diminutive back on it is a small circle, and it is the kind of thing American naming does without noticing.
How old is the name Maudine?
Maudine first appears in US birth records in 1896 — 129 years ago. The typical Maudine alive today was born around 1929, making them about 96 years old. About 300 people named Maudine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maudine most popular?
Maudine peaked in 1925, reaching #1101 nationally. See the whole 1925 chart.
Where it comes from
From Mahthildis to Maudine
The story of Maudine
Tennyson's poem of this name was the one he liked best and the critics disliked most. It is a long monologue by an unstable narrator who falls in love, kills the woman's brother in a duel, goes mad, and ends up enlisting in the Crimean war as a cure, and the reviews called it morbid, hysterical and worse. Tennyson recited it constantly, at enormous length, to anyone who would sit still, and reportedly with tears. One section of it, the garden song, was set to music and became a drawing-room standard, so that a great many Victorian households were singing four stanzas of a poem about a man losing his mind without any idea of the context.
Meaning
Mighty in battle
The Germanic original joins a word for might to one for battle and was one of the standard aristocratic women's names of early medieval Europe. French wore it down, English wore it down further, and the ending here is a later addition that carries no meaning of its own.
How the name formed
- Mahthildis
- Mahaut
- Maud
- Maudine
Related forms: Mahaut · Mechthild
Pronouncing Maudine
maw-DEEN
Two syllables with the stress at the back, which the French ending brings with it. The au writes the vowel of law, which is one of its several English values and the one it always has in this name.
Nicknames for Maudine
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
- 1896
- Most girls named
- 192548 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1101reached in 1925
- Change vs 1961
- −16.7%5 in 1962, from 6
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.
Maudine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mahaut in French — related form
- Mechthild in German — related form
Maudines among us
people named Maudine 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
Maudine 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
- Final stress gives the name a definite finish and makes it carry when called.
- Maud is a complete, ancient name sitting in the front half.
- Every sound in it is ordinary English and it is never mispronounced twice.
- It will be heard as Maureen and Nadine, both of which are commoner.
- The ending places the name firmly in the turn of the last century.
- Maud on its own is having a modest revival and this form is not.
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Maudine
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Maudines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Maudine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Maudine in 2025?
- Maudine is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Maudine with classmates?
- Maudine 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 Maudine? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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