A modern spelling of Madeline or Madelyn, ultimately from Magdalene meaning 'woman from Magdala.'
Madylin is a contemporary spelling variant of the timeless Madeline, whose story reaches back to the New Testament town of Magdala on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. The name Mary Magdalene — Mary of Magdala — became so revered in early Christian tradition that Magdalene itself transformed into a given name, passing through Old French as Madeleine before spreading across Europe in a cascade of phonetic adaptations. The French Madeleine gave English its Madeline, and centuries of popular use produced a sprawling family of spellings: Madelyn, Madelynn, Madylyn, and Madylin among them.
Each variant represents a different generation's attempt to give an ancient name fresh visual energy. Literarily, Madeline is perhaps most beloved through Ludwig Bemelmans's 1939 picture book, in which the smallest and bravest of twelve little girls in Paris captures generations of young readers. The name also resonates through Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher," where Lady Madeline embodies a haunting, spectral beauty.
In John Keats's narrative poem "The Eve of St. Agnes," a Madeline dreams of her future lover — the Romantic era at its most lush. Madylin, with its -y- standing in for the conventional -e-, gives this richly storied name a slightly more modern silhouette while preserving all its narrative depth. It has been especially popular in the United States since the 1990s, when parents began seeking classic names with individualized orthography.