Madelyn, a variant of Madeline and derivative of Magdalene, comes from a place name meaning "of Magdala." Magdala was an ancient Jewish city on the Sea of Galilee and it's name means "tower" in Hebrew. It was semi-popular throughout much of the first half of the 20th century, but fell off the Social Security Admninstration's top 1,000 for girl names each year between 1965 and 1986. Madelyn returned to the top-200 in 1998 and has been a top-100 girl's name every year since 2008. It's the name "Chicago Med" actor Brian Tee chose for his daughter Madelyn Skyler, born in 2015, and is more common than other variants, including Madeline, Madalyn, Madelynn, Madilyn or Madilynn.
