Magdalen
2025 SSA
About Magdalen
Biblical name long associated with the fallen-yet-redeemed Mary Magdalen, now rising improbably into the ranks of the fashionable among parents hungry for classic yet distinctive girls' names. The Magdalene and Magdalena versions are perhaps even more stylish. Can be shortened to Maggie or Magda but the full version is prettiest. One of our new favorites!
Madeleine and its variations is a form of Magdalen. The meaning of both names sometimes varies as place name Magdala is Aramaic for "high tower," so that may be considered an alternate meaning.
Pronounced MAG-duh-len.
As of October 2026, Magdalen ranked #7358 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #506 in 1887.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #4,975 | 28 | 15.7 |
| 2015 | #4,812 | 29 | 16.2 |
| 2016 | #4,694 | 30 | 16.9 |
| 2017 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | — | 0 | 0 |
Similar names
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Magdalen on lists
Famous Magdalens
- Magdalen Carnegie
wife of Scottish soldier,poet the Marquess of Montrose
- Magdalen Redman
American female baseball player
- Magdalen King
Hall, English novelist, journalist, and children's fiction writer
- Magdalen Herbert (d. 1627)
best known as mother of George Herbert and friend and patron of John Donne, recent work on her surviving "Kitchin Booke" and the tomb she constructed at St Nicholas Church illustrate her life and the power and role of early modern widows
Magdalen in pop culture
- Magdalen Vanstone
character in "No,Name" by Wilkie Collins
- Magdalen College
University of Oxford (Pr. "maudlin")
Variations & nicknames
- MagdalaFrench
- MagdalenFrench
- MagdalenaCzech
- MaddalenaItalian
- MaleneDanish
- MagdolinaHungarian
- MagdalaineFrench
- MagdaleineFrench
- MadziaPolish
- MagdaloneDanish
- MagdaCzech