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Greetings,
We apologize for the long delay in this letter--our sources for Iberian names are not too good, and we took some time looking for more detailed information.
"Magdalena" is derived from S. Mary Magdalene, a Biblical figure who was venerated throughout Europe. Forms of her name were used since the 13th century in England and France (1), and we found other citations in Germany, the Low Countries, Italy (2), and Spain (3). We don't have access to information on Portuguese names, so we can't be sure of the Portuguese form of the name.
We did not find any evidence that "Madrugada" was used as a nickname or surname in period, although the nickname "Madrugada" is used as a modern Spanish nickname meaning "early bird." We did find a similar Castillian surname "Madruga" in use in 1260. (4) This word apparently derives from the same root, and is related to the modern Spanish verb "madrugar", which means "to get up early". It is our guess that the name "Madruga" meant something like "gets up early", and referred to someone known as an early riser. "Madrugada" could possibly be used the same way, but we could not document its use in period. Because we don't have any sources on Portuguese naming practices in the Middle Ages, we can't say whether there would be a Portuguese cognate for this name.
We can say that "Magdalena Madruga" is a reasonable name for a 13th-century Spanish person. It's likely that there are Portuguese names similar to "Magdalena" and "Madruga," although we aren't sure what they might be. We hope this has been helpful.
Arval D'Espas Nord, Claricia Nyetgale, Rouland Carre, Ivanor of Sighty Crag, Walraven van Nijmege, and Elsbeth Anne Roth contributed to this letter.
In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel