The Baby Name Wizard

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Contribute to, or edit, this collection of community wisdom on the name Madeleine!

Comments and insights on the name Madeleine: | Edit

Madeleines are traditional French shell-shaped sponge cakes.

Personal experiences with the name Madeleine: | Edit

Having named a child Madeleine prior to the movie "Splash" coming out and ironically naming the mermaid "Madison", it is really irritating to have people assume that my Maddy is a Madison. I'm just saying.

My name is Madeleine, and I love it. I much prefer this classic spelling to the more recently coined Madeline, which seems off-balance somehow, or for that matter the other variations (Madelyn, etc). Be aware that absolutely *everyone* misspells it as Madeline and many people mispronounce the last syllable as "line" instead of "lin," which can get extremely annoying, especially to children. Although when I was young I longed for the more common spelling, but now I feel that the small inconveniences are worth the beauty of the name!

Nicknames for Madeleine: | Edit

Maddie, Maddy, Mady, Adele, Eleine, Lena, Millie, Addy, Leah, Alena, Leni, Malena, Mel, Minnie

Meanings and history of the name Madeleine: | Edit

derivative of Mary Magdalene, meaning Jesus' best friend.

Famous real-life people named Madeleine: | Edit

Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State
Madeleine L'Engle, author
Princess Madeleine, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland,third in line to the Swedish throne
Madeleine Stowe, actress
Maddy Prior, singer for SteelEye Span
Madeleine de Vercheres, early Canadian heroine
Madeleine Peyroux, singer

Madeleine in song, story & screen: | Edit

Madeleine is the name of the stolen bicycle in the Decemberists' Apology Song
madeleines are the famous little cookie in Proust's Remembrance of Things Past
Madeleine, Quasimodo's love interest in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame 2
"Madeleine" a famous song by Jacques Brel
Maddy Hayes, Cybill Shepherd's character in "Moonlighting"
Madeleine Elster, character played by Kim Novak in the film: "Vertigo"