Monday, March 26, 2012

Same Name?!--Madeline

Madeline is an interesting case. Most girls' names are either relatively stable (ex: Elizabeth), out-of-style after reigning for decades (ex: Mary), on-the-comeback/back-in-style (ex: Ava), or new (ex: Kaylee).
Madeline, however, was pretty darned popular through the turn of the century and several decades after, only to take an odd tanking in the 70s & 80s.. It shot right back up less than a decade later, and landed back on top, bringing variants Madeleine & Madelyn along with it.
So, chances are you know a few Madelines. Probably not your own age, but aunts, grandmas, even great-grandmas, as well as some little ones, too.

Original Greek form: Magdalene [Μαγδαληνή] (mag-dah-len-eh)
Latin form: Magdalena (mahg-dah-LEN-ah)
French form: Madeleine (mah-deh-LEHN)


Modern forms:
  • Madaléin (MAH-da-layn)--Irish
  • Magali (mah-gah-LEE)--Provençal. Also spelled Magalie and Magaly.
  • Magdolna (MAHG-dohl-nah)--Hungarian
  • Mahulena (mah-hul-EHN-ah)--Czech
  • Maialen (mye-ah-len)--Basque
  • Malena (mah-LEHN-ah)--Swedish, Spanish
  • Malin (MAH-lin)--Scandinavian, Finnish
  • Matleena (MAHT-leh-nah)--Finnish

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