Madeleine is the French form of Magdalene and means "woman of Magdala", the fishing village on the Sea of Galilee that was home to Mary Magdalene. Marcel Proust's madeleine cake and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright keep this spelling in the American mind, alongside the simpler Madeline. The name ranked number 280 in 2000, peaked at number 272 in 2008 and has settled at number 455 in 2025.