Dream name Magdalene - but living in Cambridge!

[cambridgecoral]

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! 😫

You worry too much and I would still use it

Isn't the college pronounced differently to the name?

I think I've only ever heard the college said out loud actually!

As its pronouced so differently I would not worry. It's a lovely name but it might get shortened to Maggie which has worse associations for old lefties like me!

Nah, this is fine, use the name you love :)

Not an issue. Cambridge is (as you know) very multicultural so there are all sorts of names in schools and nobody will bat an eyelid.

You might have people pronouncing it like the college, which doesn’t sound very nice for a name!

I'm probably wrong but I'm under the impression that Magdalene College is pronounced mord-lin.

I'm sure it'll be fine. Lovely name.

Depends on how you're planning to pronounce it..? If you're not going with Maudlin she'll have trouble in the bridge. Also people might think of the laundries first. But there's always something! So if you love it, use it anyway.

The college is pronounced ‘Maudlin’ so the risk is people will think that’s how you want it to be said (if you don’t?). But she may not be in Cambridge for ever!

I would be wary of the association with Mary Magdalene (but maybe that's just me (Catholic)!)

If I had had a daughter I would have chosen Magdalene. It is timeless and beautiful and there won't be six others in the same class at school. I understand you concerns but really don't worry. Who knows where your DD's life will lead her. She will be very grateful to have such a lovely name.

Is the issue that you want it pronounced as written rather than Maudlin? I'm not from Cambs so you presumably know whether that will be an issue. Elsewhere in the UK will be fine (I've lived all over).

If you think it will be a pain locally there are several variations- Magdalena/ Madeleine?

From my experience of growing up in Cambridge, most of the townies have absolutely 0 clue about the university itself, let alone the names of the colleges. I wouldn't overthink it as otherwise you'd never get anyone named Clare, Peter, Sidney, Lucy, etc

I wanted to call my twins Gonville & Caius but as I live in Cambridge I went for Karen and Darren.

Could you spell it Magdalena, which would remove associations from the college, and be more likely to be pronounced as you probably want it?

Or even the shorter Magda, which I've also heard (though from Danish origins). Or you could use that as a nickname, to avoid Maggie, if you didn't want that.

Just use it. No one in Cambridge will care. Everyone knows how to pronounce it for a human. And no one in the ‘town’ cares about the college. So unless you’re ‘gown’ it won’t register ans an issue all.

Agree with previous pp’s that Magdalena is a good alternative if you feel that the college link / pronunciation issue would be a problem?

This can’t be real? Naming your child after a sex worker?

Going to make myself look really stupid now, but I've got to ask...how do you pronounce it as a name? I've only ever known it as a college!

Google magdalene laundries.. that's an even worse association to the name.

As it looks (mostly):

MAG-da-len

Your daughter won’t be in Cambridge all her life! (Well it’s unlikely surely) and surely you are pronouncing it differently (otherwise terrible name for a girl).
Its a lovely name and very popular in catholic countries (despite the pp saying something about not liking it as a catholic). Mary Magdalene was quite amazing. It’s often shortened to Magda which is pretty cool.

🙄

I think your DD will get called "Maudelin" by people who think they're cleverly demonstrating that they know how it should be pronounced.

Also, what is is about the name you like. There's not much to like in it's history, as PP{s have said.

😂

really??

purest batshit