Adeline
Meaning of Adeline
Adeline is a French feminine name formed as a diminutive of Adèle. Adèle comes from the Germanic element adal, meaning noble, so Adeline is generally understood to mean noble or of noble birth. Name dictionaries agree on this derivation; the name is not a compound with a separate meaning of its own.
In British English the usual pronunciation is AD-uh-lin, with a short final syllable. In American English it is commonly ad-uh-LYNE, rhyming with line. French speakers say ah-duh-LEEN.
Notable bearers include Adeline Yen Mah, the Chinese American physician and author of the memoir Falling Leaves, and Dame Adeline Genée, the Danish-born ballet dancer who became a leading figure in British ballet. The name is traditional in France and in English-speaking countries.
In the United States, Adeline was more common in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, then declined steeply. By 1976 it had fallen to 3,095th. It returned to fashion in the 1990s and 2000s, with a sharp jump in the mid-2010s. It reached 58th in 2024, its highest rank in the records; in 2025 it ranked 59th, with 3,864 births.
Pronunciation
British English
- Pronunced as AD-uh-line (/ˈadlɪn/)
American English
- Pronunced as AD-uh-line (/ædəˈlaɪn/)
French
- Pronunced as ah-duh-LEEN (/a.dy.lin/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Adeline
| Chinese American author and physician Adeline Yen Mah, best known for the memoir Falling Leaves, grew up in Tianjin, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. |
| Adeline Genée - Dame Adeline Genee, born Anina Kirstina Margarete Petra Jensen, was a renowned Danish and British ballet dancer. |
| Hong Kong born actress Adeline Rudolph moved from modeling to roles in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Riverdale, appeared in the Netflix adaptation of Resident Evil, and will portray Kitana in the Mortal Kombat sequel. |
| Adeline Marie Russell, Duchess of Bedford, was a British reformer who championed penal reform and led the European War Fund aiding the wounded in World War I. |
| Adeline Akufo-Addo - Adeline Sylvia Eugenia Ama Yeboakua Akufo-Addo was First Lady of the Second Republic of Ghana, wife of President Edward Akufo-Addo, and mother of President Nana Akufo-Addo. |
| Adeline Jay Geo-Karis was a Republican naval officer and long-serving Illinois lawmaker from Lake County who served as mayor of Zion and in the state House from 1973 to 1979 and Senate from 1979 to 2007, known for no-nonsense bipartisanship. |
| Adeline Pond Adams - Adeline Valentine Pond Adams was an American art writer who published several books and received the National Sculpture Society Special Medal of Honor in 1930 and became the first recipient of its Herbert Adams Memorial Medal in 1947. |
| Adeline Addie Kerrar was an American infielder and catcher in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1944, a switch hitter who threw right handed. |
| Scottish botanist Adeline May Cowan worked in India on seed plants and is cited as A.M.Cowan in botanical names. |
| Adeline Ooi, a curator and art advisor, was Art Basel's Director Asia in Hong Kong from 2015 to 2023 and served on its executive committee. |
| Adeline Margaret Tesky was a Canadian author known for novels and short stories. |
| Adeline Oppenheim Guimard was an American painter known for her gouache and colored crayon portraits. |
| Haitian former footballer Adeline Saintilmond played as a forward and represented the Haiti womens national team. |
| Adeline Lobdell Atwater - Adeline Lobdell was a Chicago born American author, art dealer, and National Womans Party activist who served as art director of the New Gallery and later earned notice for fiction and nonfiction in major New York publications. |
| Adeline May Keating was an Australian businesswoman who became an international buyer for the emporium of Sidney Myer and was said to be the highest paid businesswoman in Australia. |
