Baby Name question

[MariDisney]

I have a Caroline, so I'd pronounce Madeline like Mad-e-LINE. I've never seen the second spelling, but I think I'd be inclined to say Mad-e-LEEN even though that wasn't one of your choices.

 

[NMAmy]

"They leave the house at half past nine, in two straight lines.
The smallest one is MADELINE!"
by Ludwig Bemelmans

Having read this book a million times to my niece, I have to say that it ends in LINE !

Edie

Yep! After years of reading about the old house in Paris that was covered with vines, I would always pronounce it as Madeline

 

[cornflake]

I'll put on my name nerd hat for you.

The Madelyn spelling was ranked #104 in 2007. It jumped up to 64 in 2008, then jumped a little more, to 59 in 2009. It has fallen a bit, to 76 in 2010 (2011 numbers aren't out yet). Madeline, on the other hand, has held a spot in the 50s to 70s for the past ten years. In 2010 it was at a low of 77. Madelyn and Madeline are next to each other on the popularity list! Madeleine hovers around 300, so it's not nearly as popular as either of the other spellings. If misspellings bother you, that's one to scratch off the list since many people will spell it whatever way is most familiar to them.

As for pronunciation ... this is why I talked about the Madelyn spelling. Madelyn is a style statement. It's updated for the times. There's also Adelyn vs Adeline, along the same lines. People who want the -LYN pronunciation tend to spell it the obvious phonetic way, and reinforce the spelling trend.

Because of the popularity of the -LYN spelling and pronunciation, and its recent growth trend, I assume that anyone spelling it Madeline is doing so because they want me to pronounce it -LINE instead of -LYN. I would guess -LINE for the Madeleine spelling as well, if I met a little Madeleine one day, but I have heard it pronounced Mad-uh-LANE as well.

Mad-e-LINE like the girl in the book. I don't think I've run into a Madelyn though I suppose I'd think it was Mad-e-lynn. I don't like it, it looks spelled wrong to me.

However, poster above makes the point that it's the same likely difference as between Caroline and Carolyn, which are both standard and pronounced differently. Caroline Kennedy has been known to correct people who pronounce her name 'Car-o-lynn,' and she's not alone.

 

[franc]

How would you pronounce Madeline?

Mad-eh-lyn

What about Madeleine? -LIN or -LINE?

Mad-eh-LANE

 

[Lolsmum]

Madeline:

Either Mad-uh-line or Mad-uh-lyn

Madeleine:
Mad-uh-lane, but it sounds a lot like Mad-uh-lyn in my accent.

 

[design_mom]

Madelyn = Mad-eh-linn
Madeline = Mad-eh-line (first guess), Mad-eh-linn (alternate)
Madeleine = Mad-eh-lane

When I was younger, I probably would have guessed that Madeline would be Mad-eh-linn. However, because of the storybook, and because Madelyn is a popular spelling, I would probably assume that someone choosing the Madeline spelling wanted the ending pronounced -line. I wouldn't think a person was "wrong" to pronounce it Mad-eh-linn (I think both pronunciations are "acceptable" for the spelling)... but it wouldn't be my first guess.

 

[Disney Doll]

mada LINE

just my preference. It kind of reminds me of CaroLINE.. which i prefer

This.
An "e" at the end makes the "i" long, like it sounds in the word "fine" as opposed to short, like it sounds in the word "it".

 

[HM]

I understand your dilemma. Let me tell you a similar story. My 8 yr old niece is named Ana (Ah-na, short for Anastasia) but it gets mispronounced An-na all the time. She's sick of it and has informed us that she no longer wants to be called by her first name and will from now on be called her middle name. (which incidentally could also be mispronounced, but likely won't in our area). Knowing what I know now, if I were in your shoes and wanted my child to be Madeline with the Lynn at the end, I'd probably spell it Madelyn so that there would be no misconstruing the pronounciation. Hope that helps.

 

[Minnesota!]

Lynn for the first, Line for the second

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

Madeline with a long I was a made-up pronunciation for the books for rhyming purposes.

So I vote Madeline as being pronounced with a short I sound.

Madeleine rhymes with Seine, so sounds like a cross between a slightly drawn out short E sound and a long A sound.

 

[Maggie Lizer]

How would you pronounce Madeline? Would you be inclined to pronounce it Mad-a-LIN or Mad-a-LINE?

What about Madeleine? -LIN or -LINE?

First one: Mad-uh-Line

Second one: Mad-uh-Lane

Neither one would be Mad-uh-Lyn to me.

 

[NotUrsula]

I'll throw in a funny story for you on this topic. One of the best-known dishes to come out of Louisiana in the past century is Spinach Madeleine. It first appeared in the Baton Rouge Junior League's community cookbook, River Roads Recipes, in 1959. RRR is the all-time best-selling community cookbook series in the United States (WELL over 2 million copies sold, and the original edition is still in print), and one recipe that has been in every single edition of the book is Spinach Madeleine.

The recipe was created by Madeline Wright (now Nevill) of St. Francisville, Louisiana. She has been quoted many times as saying that she felt quite audacious naming the recipe after herself, so she changed the spelling to Madeleine to make it seem more elegant and "gourmet-sounding".

This is an interview that she did about the recipe some time back, before she re-married (she now owns a B&B, but did not at the time the recipe was created): http://www.225batonrouge.com/news/2011/dec/01/madelines-spinach/
Folks in South Louisiana would call both the recipe and it's creator "MAD-a-lin."

FTR, the original version of the recipe was really fattening and quite salty; it has since been re-engineered by an enormous number of chefs in order to trim the fat and sodium in it. My DH is a huge fan of it and I make the lightened version of it for him quite often; a local cheese mfr. where I live makes a jalapeno cheese that is very close to the original ingredient, only it's white cheddar; so I'm now known for making "that pale-looking Spinach Madeleine."

 

[khertz]

I would pronounce Madeline as Mada-lynn
I would pronounce Madeleine as Mada-line

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

How would you pronounce Madeline? Would you be inclined to pronounce it Mad-a-LIN or Mad-a-LINE?

What about Madeleine? -LIN or -LINE?

(Madelyn seems obvious so I'm not including this variation.)

Don't worry about how you think it's supposed to be pronounced, just tell me what your natural instinct would be.

First one: Mad-uh-line
Second one: Mad-uh-lean

 

[Nette]

How would you pronounce Madeline? Would you be inclined to pronounce it Mad-a-LIN or Mad-a-LINE?

What about Madeleine? -LIN or -LINE?

(Madelyn seems obvious so I'm not including this variation.)

Don't worry about how you think it's supposed to be pronounced, just tell me what your natural instinct would be.

Madeline -- MAD-EH-LIN (maybe line, but its just one of those things that she'll always have to explain... either one is fine I'd think)
Madeleine - MAD-EH-LEEN

 

[DisGirlAllie]

I was raised speaking French so my natural instinct is Mad-lin.

 

[kmb584]

Mad-a-LIN!

DD's name is Madeline so the above pronunciation is second nature to me!

However, I do find myself correcting people on the pronunciation more often than I ever thought I'd have to. Actually, it's such a classic name that I didn't think I'd ever have to correct someone but it seems that everyone wants to call her Mad-a-LINE.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

MAD-a-lin