girl's name
Linda
LIN-da
- Origin Spanish
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 1,504,548
the United States
#902
2025 births
Linda is a girl's name usually read as beautiful in Spanish or as a Germanic element meaning soft or tender. Its 99,908 births in 1947 are the highest single-year total of any name in our entire dataset — ahead of James, Michael, Robert and John.
- Linda is a name of Spanish origin.
- Peaked in 1947, when 99,908 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 11,277 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Linda over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 493 |
| 1890s | 872 |
| 1900s | 996 |
| 1910s | 2,395 |
| 1920s | 4,468 |
| 1930s | 29,482 |
| 1940s | 532,989 |
| 1950s | 565,533 |
| 1960s | 226,138 |
| 1970s | 46,124 |
| 1980s | 22,981 |
| 1990s | 12,866 |
| 2000s | 7,220 |
| 2010s | 4,386 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,956 |
What Linda means
Linda means beautiful if taken from Spanish, or soft, tender and flexible if taken from the Germanic element lind. The two readings are independent and the name is genuinely used under both.
Where Linda comes from
Linda has two separate sources that produced the same word. The Germanic lind meant soft, tender or flexible, and originally a lime or linden tree, and it appears as the second half of a long list of older names — Belinda, Melinda, Rosalinda, Gerlinde. Linda began as a clipping of those. Separately, linda is the ordinary Spanish and Portuguese adjective for pretty or beautiful, from the Latin limpidus, clear. Which source a family has in mind varies, and neither is more correct than the other; the Germanic route is older in English-language use and the Spanish reading is what most modern sources give.
Linda in use
Linda peaked in the United States in 1947 with 99,908 births — the highest one-year total of any name in our data, above James at 95,024, Michael at 93,036 and Robert at 91,892. Our year-by-year series shows how abruptly it arrived: 52,710 American girls in 1946, then 99,692 in 1947, close to a doubling in a single year, coinciding with Buddy Clark's recording of Jack Lawrence's song Linda topping the charts. It held number one from 1947 to 1952 and now ranks 902nd in the United States, 795th in France, 821st in Ireland and 1963rd in England and Wales.
How popular is Linda?
In 2025, Linda was given to 294 babies in the United States, ranking #902 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Linda is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Linda
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Linda also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Linda over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Linda
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Linda in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Linda
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Linda — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Linda
What does the name Linda mean?
Beautiful in Spanish, or soft and tender from the Germanic lind. Both sources are genuine and independent.
Why was Linda so popular?
Our data shows it nearly doubling in one year, from 52,710 American births in 1946 to 99,692 in 1947, alongside the chart-topping song Linda.
What is the most popular name ever in one year?
In our data, Linda in 1947 with 99,908 births — higher than any single year recorded for James, Michael, Robert or John.
Is Linda short for Belinda?
It can be. Linda began partly as a clipping of Belinda, Melinda and Rosalinda before becoming a name in its own right.
Is Linda a girl's or a boy's name?
Linda is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Linda?
Linda has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Linda?
Linda is usually shortened to Lin and Lindy.
Is Linda a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Linda currently ranks #795 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.