Entry № 0010 · Germanic origin

Adeline Adeline — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ AD-eh-line /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Germanic
Meaning
"Noble"
Syllables
3
Rank · US 2025
№ 98
First recorded
Medieval

A name that means "noble".

Adeline is a French diminutive of Adèle, ultimately from the Old Germanic element adal meaning "noble." The same root gives English the words Adele, Adelaide, Adela, and (via Adele) the modern singer's name.

Adeline was popular in the late nineteenth century, faded for most of the twentieth, and has returned strongly in the 2010s. Today it sits in the U.S. top 100 — part of a wave of long, soft, classical names returning to favour.

Noble. From one Old Germanic word, a thousand modern names.

Where Adeline stands.

Current rank · 2025
№ 98 in the U.S.
All-time peak
№ 98 in 2025
Babies named Adeline · last year
2,854 in the U.S.
First entered SSA top-1000
1880
Rank, 1995–2025 Lower = more popular
№25 №75 №150 №250 1995 2005 2015 2020 2025 PEAK · №98 NOW · №98

Adelines before her.

Real people
Adeline Virginia Stephen
Birth name of Virginia Woolf, modernist novelist.
1882 – 1941
In fiction
Sweet Adeline
Popular American song from 1903.
1903 song

Names connected to Adeline.

The number behind Adeline.

1

The Pioneer

Adeline reduces to one — the number of originality and quiet independence.

Why families chose this name.

"We loved the soft -line ending. And the meaning — noble — felt like a quiet wish."
Emily · Mother of one · Nashville