Madeleine carries 45,039 cumulative American girls on SSA record, sits at rank 437, and reached its peak in 1998. The chart shows steady twentieth-century use as a French-form alternative to Madeline, a 1995-2002 American high during the broader Madison-Madeline-Madelyn surge, and a measured decline as the simplified Madelyn spelling captured the dominant share.
The French source
Madeleine is the French form of Magdalene, the New Testament name attached to Mary Magdalene. The name comes from Magdala, an Aramaic place name meaning "tower" referring to a fishing village on the Sea of Galilee. The French Madeleine has been in continuous use across France since the medieval period and gives the name a distinctly Continental visual register.
Ludwig Bemelmans's children's book series Madeline (first published 1939) gave the simplified English form a strong American cultural anchor and powered the late-twentieth-century surge. Madeleine Albright, the first female U.S. Secretary of State (1997-2001), gave the French spelling specific political and intellectual visibility during exactly the years of its peak.
The French-classic cluster
Madeleine sits with Genevieve, Josephine, Eloise, and Celeste in the long-form French girl cluster that has anchored American naming through multiple decades. Browse the broader French girl names family, or scan the 1990s decade list for cluster context.
The counter-reading
The spelling fork is the practical question. Madeleine, Madeline, Madelyn, Madelynn, and Madilyn are all in active American SSA use, and parents choosing the original French Madeleine should expect lifelong clarification at points of entry where listeners default to the simpler English Madeline. The three-syllable MAD-uh-lin rhythm is graceful. Nicknames Maddie, Mads, and Lena are all natural, with Lena reading distinctly contemporary and Maddie holding warm familiar weight.