870: madeleine Apr 26, 2017

Plenty of words come from given names including 'doll(y)' as a toy (and a prostitute), 'john' as a man who hires a prostitute, and 'dick' as a penis. Generally, these words arise because of the commonality of the name and thence an association between whatever the word means the people. Some words derive from given names but come about not because of their frequencies, and instead because of one person in particular associated with it. 'Madeleine' is spelt a number of different ways including 'Madeline', 'Madelyn', however, only the first of these is the term for the little French pastry. The baked good is called such since it is named after the French pastry-cook, Madeleine Paulmier. The variation in spelling would have even existed with the common nickname too, which is usually Maddy or Maddie.