Madeline is the English form of the French Madeleine, which goes back to Mary Magdalene and means "woman from Magdala", a town on the Sea of Galilee whose name means "tower". Ludwig Bemelmans's picture books about the little Parisian schoolgirl Madeline have kept the name familiar to American children since 1939. Madeline ranked number 56 in 2000, hovered at the edge of the top 100 for most of the last decade and has climbed back to number 81 in 2025.