Madlene

Girls' name

Woman from Magdala, through Magdalene

Madlene has been given to 36 babies in the U.S. since 1917. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1917, with 7 recorded.

Babies named Madlene, 1943

1 in 403,000

Madlene over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Madlene: meaning, origin, and history

Woman from Magdala, through Magdalene

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Madlene means

Madlene belongs to the name family reached through Madlene → Magdalene → Magdalena. Its meaning is “woman from Magdala”.

Origin, language, and formation

Madlene is used in German.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Magdalene and Magdalena.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 36 girls were recorded with the name Madlene between 1917 and 1943. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1917; its best national rank was #3,668 in 1934.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Madlene?

Madlene had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1943, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1943: 1 in 403,000; 7 of 2,822,499 births
Among girls only: 1 in 199,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1943: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 279,488 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Madlene sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1943 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 279,488 children born in 1943 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Madlene. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Madlenes were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Madlene was born before 1934 — so the typical Madlene is around 91 today.

Median birth year: 1934; About 91 years old
Biggest decade: 1930s; 33.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 80.6%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 0; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1930s — 33.3% of all recorded uses (12).

Is Madlene rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1917 (7)
Years since peak: 108; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #3,668; 1934

Spellings of Madlene

Madlene is not the most common spelling — Madeline is, with 22.2% against Madlene's <0.01%.

Madeline22.2%207,385
Darlene21.9%204,942
Arlene15.3%143,010
Marlene14.0%130,573
Madeleine4.9%45,722
Marlee1.9%17,654
Carlene1.6%15,225
Earlene1.5%14,165

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Madlene by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #3,668; 1934
Peak year: 1917; 7 that year
First recorded: 1917
Last recorded: 1943
All-time count: 36
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Madlene

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Madilene Madgelene Madene Madrene Madalene Madgalene Madaliene Madhavi Madely Madella Madilin Madalie Madeley Madysson Madasin Madelis Madellyn Madlyne Madeira Madlynn Madiana Madelinne Madelle Madsion

Sibling names for Madlene

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Albina Nelle Orpha Antonette Harriette Winnifred Johnie Dovie

For a brother

Regis Rosario Lyman Winfield Dorsey Granville Abe Isadore

Explore around Madlene

Top names of 1917, Madlene's peak year The 1910s in full Other names that peaked in 1934 Girls' names starting with M