A female name. Hebrew ‘woman of Magdala’. The supposed relics of St Mary Magdalene were discovered in the 13th C, after which she received greatly increased devotion, and the distinctive epithet Magdalen was adopted as a christian name. In England the French form of the name, Madeleine, was further reduced to Maudlin and Madlin, which were still used in the 17th C. Magdalen seems to nave come in after the Reformation (Magdalen and Magdelne occur in 1604), being no doubt taken directly from the Bible. Lyford 1655 gives it variously as ‘Magdalene, Maudlin seu Magdalin'.

Madelina Assize Rolls 1221. Maudeleyn Hundred Rolls 1273. Mawdelyn Church Registers of St. James’s, Clerkenwell, 1551-1754 1562 Maudlin Church Registers of St. James’s, Clerkenwell, 1551-1754 1608 Magdalen, Magdelne Yorks Rec 1604.

MAGDALENE (rare). Hebrew, ‘(the woman) of Magdala’ or Dalmanutha, that city on the shores of Lake Gennesaret or Sea of Galilee which is famed as the birthplace of Mary Magdalene,—at one time ‘possessed by seven devils’ and then, penitent, a thorough-going saint. The name is falling into disuse in both of its forms—forms ‘reflected’ in the Oxford college (-en) and the Cambridge (-ene).

A name derived from Mary Magdalene. Josephus says she took her name either from the town of Magdala, in Galilee, beyond Jordan, and not far from Gamala; or from Magdalos, a town on this side of Jordan, at the foot of Mount Carmel, the Megiddu of Joshua and II. Kings. The nicknames of the English name are Maudlin and Maun.