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Baby names

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Original poster

Dream name Magdalene - but living in Cambridge!

143 replies

cambridgecoral · 10/04/2024 11:15

We decided on our name for our new DD - Magdalene.
It's perfect - works well with our surname and the name of DS. I'm totally enamoured with it!

But I suddenly realised today - we live in Cambridge.
One of the most well-known university colleges here is MAGDALENE COLLEGE!

Arghhhhhhhh!
Is this the worst choice of name? Are we going to look a bit ridiculous if we name her Magdalene?
Is there some variation which would be better?
I'm pretty devastated with this realisation, but worried my bias will push me to go ahead, and we'll end up regretting it later.
What do you think?
Arghhh! 😫

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Marblessolveeverything · 13/07/2024 01:43

BrotherUrgh · 10/04/2024 13:07

Yes, this would put me right off. Magda and Magdalena would be ok though.

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This, if she ever travels in Ireland or Europe her name has horrific connections.

redheadnamedabigale · 13/07/2024 01:09

Could be worse, I know a Magdalene that lives near where one of the laundries used to be 😬

Barleysugar86 · 12/07/2024 21:11

I once knew a Virginia who lived in Virginia, so this wouldn't seem all that odd to me. When I lived in Cambridge we didn't really have anything to do with the university (we all went further afield for degrees as it is no fun to study where you have grown up) and I wouldn't have even made the connection/ remembered the college name. Our local church is Mary Magdalene Church, so that's where my mind would go, but not in a negative way. It's a pretty name.

salamithumbs · 12/07/2024 21:07

Sago1 · 12/07/2024 16:32

The Irish launderies are pronounced Magdaylayna the college Maudlin obviously but the traditional spelling for the girls name is Madeleine.

I would go for Madeleine with the traditional spelling nobody is likely to get confused.

The Magdalene laundries are pronounced Mag-de-lin, whereas the name Magdalena is pronounced Magdalayna

museumum · 12/07/2024 18:00

I’d much rather magdalena (mag-da-layna)
Magdalene can be maudlin, magda-lane or magda-Lin and it’s got the laundries issue. Magdalena has none of those issues.

KirstenBlest · 12/07/2024 17:56

edit: You are saying that the French version of the name is the traditional spelling. @Sago1 .

I think the name is of Greek origin. The Latin form of the name is Magdalene.

KirstenBlest · 12/07/2024 17:44

@Sago1 , It's a biblical name and the spelling varies between countries. You are saying that the French spelling is the French spelling.
The traditional spelling of the English name is Magdalene.

Firsttimebabymummy · 12/07/2024 17:04

I like the name. I've never heard of the college or laundries though, I just think it's pretty.

Sago1 · 12/07/2024 16:32

The Irish launderies are pronounced Magdaylayna the college Maudlin obviously but the traditional spelling for the girls name is Madeleine.

I would go for Madeleine with the traditional spelling nobody is likely to get confused.

Notellinganyone · 12/07/2024 16:27

Duckies · 11/04/2024 13:54

I've scrolled through so many replies now; please, OP, tell us how YOU will pronounce the name so I can disinvest myself!

How about Magdalena? Lovely name and makes a slight distinction. Pronounced Mag-da-layna.

ZoyaTheDestroyer · 14/04/2024 00:28

Panicmode1 · 11/04/2024 08:29

I wouldn't use it - but I'm the mother of a child at the college so I would pronounce it Maud-lin and therefore it would make me think of depression and sadness. As a Catholic, I would also think of the Magdalene laundries connection.

I think Magdalena is nice though!

I don’t understand. Are you saying that you would use the ‘maudlin’ pronunciation even though you have learnt from this thread that it is incorrect for the given name?

Brexile · 13/04/2024 21:22

bluerosacea · 11/04/2024 09:15

My daughter was in school in Oxford (which also has a Magdalen College, and a Magdalen College School). A younger child was called Magdalen, always known to her friends as Maudie. I thought that was a pretty name.

I was at Magdalen with a girl called Magdalena! Nobody thought it was odd AFAIK. I think it's strange that people are insisting that Magdalene has negative connotations, when all popular saints' names will at some point have been.given to people or institutions that you would probably not view positively. It's a perfectly fine name.

wherethewaterisdarker · 13/04/2024 08:42

I wouldn’t because of the “maudlin” pronunciation of the Cambridge college (but maybe most people completely oblivious to this?!). You do live in Cambridge however…

bernss · 13/04/2024 08:41

I don't really see the name and the laundries as inextricably linked.

Nor do I. And nor will most people, babyname MNetters do love to be dramatic though.

OP go with a name you love, always.

renthead · 13/04/2024 08:36

I love this name, it was on my baby name list when I was a child. The main association is Mary I think. I don't think the laundries are a terribly relevant association in Cambridge, and I just wouldn't worry about the college. Unusual or comment-worthy names cease to be either of those things after the first time someone hears your name.

pinkpale · 13/04/2024 08:13

Beautiful name.
Lovely homage to Cambridge.
Don't overthink. Just go with what you love.

PigeonPigPie · 13/04/2024 07:46

Magdalena is top of my girls names list.
I'd never heard of the laundries.
I love Mary Magdalene.

KirstenBlest · 13/04/2024 07:39

@Thepowerhouseofthecell , but she wasn't one.

Thepowerhouseofthecell · 12/04/2024 22:49

A lot of people will immediately think Mary Magdelene. I only learned of the laundries recently from a bbc drama but Mary Magdelene is very well known as a prostitute.

TracyBeakerSoYeah · 12/04/2024 17:47

I know a Ted, a Fred, a Joseph, a Primrose, a Rosemary, several
Jacks & Ian's plus people with the surnames Bundy, West, Goble, Brady

Do I think of Ted Bundy, Fred & Rosemary West, Ian Brady or Huntley, Stalin or Joseph in the Bible, Primrose Shipman, Jack the Ripper & Joseph Goebbels when I see the above names? NO

If you like the name @cambridgecoral use it

KirstenBlest · 12/04/2024 14:38

I typed Magdal into my browser and it immediately brought up Magdalene Laundries.

SoupDragon · 12/04/2024 14:17

GettingtheElectric · 12/04/2024 12:54

Well, continue to congratulate yourself on your own ill-informedness? The first Magdalene asylums were founded in England, by Protestant groups -- the first was begun in London in the mid-18thc. Some were founded by lay bodies. They weren't confined to Ireland by any means - they existed across the UK, Europe, the US, and Australia. By 1900, there were over 300 in England alone.

But a certain type of English person has an ingrained mental habit of othering unpalatable aspects of their own history onto Ireland.

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Probably because they were apparently still running in Ireland until 1998 so within recent memory.

GettingtheElectric · 12/04/2024 12:54

BaronessBomburst · 11/04/2024 16:54

I don't believe that in England people will think of the laundries. Maybe more so in Ireland, but to be honest I think that the majority of the British population won't even know about them. It affected Catholic women in Ireland and unless you have an interest in women's rights, Catholicism, or Ireland, it's just not going to register. Obviously proportionally more posters on MN will be aware, but start by asking all the men you know......
I think it's a beautiful name.

Well, continue to congratulate yourself on your own ill-informedness? The first Magdalene asylums were founded in England, by Protestant groups -- the first was begun in London in the mid-18thc. Some were founded by lay bodies. They weren't confined to Ireland by any means - they existed across the UK, Europe, the US, and Australia. By 1900, there were over 300 in England alone.

But a certain type of English person has an ingrained mental habit of othering unpalatable aspects of their own history onto Ireland.

Crapuscular · 11/04/2024 20:35

Magdalen is perfect and a very lovely name.

KirstenBlest · 11/04/2024 20:04

@MrsCarson , the link explains why.

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