Need help with spelling of name...Madeline vs. Madeleine

[swampnurse]

I am due to have this baby on July 31st and have finally chosen her name. Still haven't chosen the spelling and i need some unbiased (not my mother's!) advice.

Her name will either be Madeline or Madeleine and pronounced Mad-a-lynn". I know that Madeline is traditionally pronounced mad-a-LINE with a long "I" just like the little girl in the famous book series "Madeline" that my mom used to read to me when i was little. That's what makes me think that the traditional french Madeleine would be better. However, i only know of one child named Madeline who actually pronounces it w/ a long "I" and i suspect most people pronounce Madeline like "Mad-A-Lynn". For example, Katherine is not pronounced Kath-a-RINE.

Please let me know how all of the "Madelines" you know pronounce their names.

Yuo all must think i'm crazy! The reason i am so anxiety-ridden about this and why i have given it so much though is that my name is ALYSSA. It was not popular until recently and i have spent my entire life (34 years!) correcting people on their butchered pronunciations, not to mention the horrific spellings. I don't want my daughter to have as many of these issues, so i am trying to make it easy on her and give her an easy to pronounce name with a traditional spelling. I know some people think the "creative" spellings are cute, but for the child it can be very difficult.

Please help me. I have Two weeks and three days and am losing sleep over this!

Alyssa (rhymes w/ Melissa) :)

[shilo]

i personally prefer the traditional french, but then, if i saw it on one of my patient's records spelled that way and had to call out the name, i'd probably prounounce it more like the traditional french Mad-Len, but i think most people would probably prounouce it the way you're wanting Mad-a-Lyn. my 'first crack' at madeline would have the long i like caro-line.

fwiw, i also have a 'butchered more often than not' full first name, but it never really seemed to bother me. may have had something to do with the fact that as a child, i was always called by my nick-name 'lori' instead of the full lorien (pronouced lori-N, not lorraine, lor-ine (long i), lauren, etc :) ). so maybe part of your decision will be if you are planning on using a nick name. if she will be 'maddie' or 'maddy' for the most part, it may not bother her as much when/if an occasional substitute teacher or nurse in a waiting room prounounces her full name with the wrong pronunciation. when i started using my full name when i went to college and in my professional life, it didn't bother me at all to have to correct people, and actually on more than one occasion, helped get my foot in the door because it sparked up a conversation right away.

lori

Sam 5/19/05 How lucky I am that you chose me.

[bubbaray]

I would pronounce Madeline as MA-deh-line, especially as I've had people correct my pronunciation of the book character, LOL!

We had spelling and pronunciation issues with DD's name too. Her name is Maya (MY-ah) and we still get people (even the IL's, Grrrr) calling her MAY-ah. Sigh.

I should have gone with my gut and spelled it Mya (Maya was DH's spelling choice), which is about as phonetic as it gets.

JMHO.

Melissa

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[heidiann]

When I seen Madeline I automatically pronounced it "mad-a-LINE" with the long I, however Madeleine for some reason my brain read it as "mad-a-lynn". Just my two cents I think both ways of spelling the name is pretty but I would think if you spelled it "madeline" she would get more mispronounciations.
HTH

Heidi
Mom to Jillian 10/20/05

[boolady]

My MIL was Madeline, pronounced Mad-a-lynn. That's going to be our girl middle name, and we're spelling it that way. I have 2 co-workers with Madalyns because they don't think you can pronounce Madeline that way, but I do.

[wencit]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, when I first read your title, I thought to myself, "Madeline and Madeleine sound the same to me. I wonder what she's posting about." :D I didn't even know the book character was pronounced with the long I until you said so.

Honestly, I don't think Madeline is a "creative" spelling of the name. Now, if you were thinking about Madduhlynne, I would have different advice for you.

[kelly ann]

I have always pronounced both spellings as "mad-a-lynn". I think there will always be someone that pronounces her name wrong...for example, someone says "may-a" for Maya :) Just go with the spelling you like best.

If you want to pick the easiest to spell, I would go for Madeline. Even though many of us mommies know the different spellings, I have to think the general person walking down the street would not realize there should be another "e" in the name and then they wonder does it go before or after the "i". Okay, now maybe I am over-thinking this for you :P Oh, isn't there the "Madelaine" version as well??? However, they may call her "mad-elaine"!

[saschalicks]

I've always pronounced it Made-lyn even when I see it spelled Made-line. I wanted to name DS#2 Madeline and was going to spell it with an I.

I understand butchering too. But here's another thing people have ALWAYS spelled my name wrong and it is so so so annoying like pronouncing it wrong. So think about how people are going to spell it too. Is Madeleine going to get annoying when no one spells it right? Just my issue, so if it doesn't bother you I say spell it Madeleine.

[tarynsmum]

I would think Madeline with a long I (as in the littlest one was Madeline :)), and Madeleine as mad-uh-lynn/mad-a-lynn. The first Madeleine that comes to mind is former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Not really sure why, but there you go.

Personally, I really love Madeleine. I think it's beautiful.

[dowlinal]

My daughter's name is pronouned Mad-a-lynn. When I chose the spelling of her name I had completely forgotten about the Madeline books. I chose to spell it Madeline because it seemed to be the easiest spelling and I figured that it would make it easier on her when she had to spell her name out for people. I have spent the last two years wishing I had picked Madeleine. EVERYONE butchers her name and I have even had people tell me that I am pronouncing her name wrong. Um hello I picked the name, I know how it's supposed to be pronounced. So as the mom of a Madeline, if it is something that will bother you then I would go with Madeleine.

[jillc]

Hi Alyssa,

I hope you come to a decision that you feel great about soon. ;)

My two cents...

I know several little girls named Madeline. Spelled Madeline. All of them are pronounced the way you're shooting for - "Mad-a-lynn". I also know one Madelynn.

It would never occur to me to pronounce it with a long "I". This might be a regional thing - I'm in AZ & we pretty much NEVER hear of a Caroline being Care-o-LINE, it's always Care-o-lynn, etc. Same with Madeline.

I've never seen the spelling Madeleine. I think it's confusing & people are going to mis-spell it. When I read it, I wondered if it was pronounced differently, like Mad-a-leen, or something.

I know if I were in your shoes, I'd agonize over this, too. From all the feedback you've gotten so far, it sounds like there are different "normal" pronounciations of the name or spellings of the name in different regions of the country. I guess I'd go with whatever seems to be the norm where you live. That will likely make life easiest for you & your little girl. :)

HTH,
Jill

[swampnurse]

Oh Geez! i'm more confused than EVER! For the record, i didn't mean that either way was a creative spelling. They are both traditional and that is what i want. The EASIEST traditional spelling. maybe i oughta' just name her Mary or Jennifer! :)

And to Maya's mom, that is a lovely name and that is how it should be spelled. Mya is the new way people are spelling Mia for some reason. i didn't mention before that the other reason i'm so nutty about this is that i am a NICU & L&D nurse and see just about every baby's name that comes through our hospital, making me much more aware of names and spellings than the average person who isn't surrounded by new babies. I'll bet teachers have this problem too!

If it weren't for that dang book, i wouldn't be giving it a thought. But i know people are going to buy her the books (which have made a recent comeback)and then she'll be confused. Like i am! :)

[swampnurse]

i think i'm going with Madeleine, the traditional french way. As a previous poster said, Madeleine Albright spells it this way and she's pretty well known and respected. And Madeline from the books is also well known as Made-LINE!

She will no doubt have to spell it often, but with all the different ways people are spelling ALL names these days, i figure that will be common for almost everyone. In my experience, not everyone's opinion though, it is better to have to correct someones spelling of one's name that the pronunciation. For the last time, my name is not pronounced Alisa, Alicia, Allison, Eliza, or Melissa! You see how crazy i get about this? :) But i once had a very wise English teacher in 8th grade who told me that if someone doesn't care enough to find out and use the correct pronunciation of your name, they probably aren't worth knowing anyway. LOVE that guy!

Thanks for all your help. At least i'm giving her an easy middle name, Jane!

Alyssa

[ChunkyNicksChunkyMom]

Sasha if you had nemed DS#2 Madeline he would have had much bigger fish to fry than how people were pronouncing his name.:)
Just funnin with you!

Susan

#1 Nick 11-18-04
#2 Kate 04-26-06

[saschalicks]

Yes, I guess you are right. Thank G-d I came to my senses.

To clarify: I meant before we found out it was a boy. Good thing you all figured that out right?

[caleymama]

I just saw this now, but my older DD's best little girl friend is Madeleine (pron. Mad-a-lynn). She goes by the nickname Madde (pron. Maddie). I know her mom preferred the traditional French spelling and I've never heard her complain about issues with either the full name or the nickname. Just FTR, I have always thought of Madeline as Made-LINE, like in the the books and Madeleine as Mad-a-lynn. It's a beautiful name either way and your teacher was right! HTH :)

[lmintzer]

The only Madeline I know is pronounced "mad-a-lyn" just as you want for your daughter.

I suppose the other option is Madelyn, no?

[newmomto3kids]

For what it is worth...my mom (born and raised in Ireland) is Madeleine, and she pronounces it "Mad-uh-lean" although it often sounds more like "Madlean". That is our DD#1's middle name and we pronounce it the same way.
I know that doesn't help at all, but thought I would throw it into the mix.
Good luck!!