There has been a continuous tradition of academic study on the Magdalene College site for nearly 600 years.

One of the most common questions we are asked is about the pronunciation of the College's name. Though spelt in the biblical and continental way, 'Magdalene', the College name is pronounced 'Maudlyn'.

When the College was refound by Lord Audley in 1542, it was dedicated to St Mary Magdalene. The choice of the name of Mary Magdalene appears to have had a touch of vanity. In many early documents, the name is clearly spelt as pronounced: 'Maudleyn', containing within it the name of Audley. The final 'e' on Magdalene was an attempt, with the advent of the postal service in the mid nineteenth-century, to distinguish Magdalene Cambridge from our sister College, Magdalen Oxford.