girl's name
Mindy
MIN-dee
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 43,720
Mindy has no source of its own — it shortens Melinda, whose second half is transparent and whose first half nobody has explained, so the name inherits half a meaning. Melinda has no history before the 1700s, the usual signature of a literary coinage.
- Mindy is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 1979, when 3,722 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 44,205 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1940.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Mindy over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1940s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1940s | 85 |
| 1950s | 4,322 |
| 1960s | 5,460 |
| 1970s | 14,061 |
| 1980s | 12,685 |
| 1990s | 3,177 |
| 2000s | 1,395 |
| 2010s | 969 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 528 |
What Mindy means
Mindy means a gentle serpent on the fullest reading of Melinda, whose second element is Spanish or Latin for pretty and whose first has never been traced.
Where Mindy comes from
Mindy shortens Melinda, an eighteenth-century coinage whose -inda ending copies Belinda and Lucinda. The Mel- is variously explained as the Greek meli, honey, or the Latin mel of the same sense, but neither is documented for this name and the whole may simply be invented for sound. Melinda itself has no history before the 1700s, which is the usual signature of a literary construction rather than an inherited name.
Mindy in use
Mindy peaked in the United States in 1979, when 3,722 babies were registered, and our data marks it stable rather than falling. It now ranks 2404th in the United States on 75 births, 2741st in England and Wales on 10 and 6874th in France on 5, across 43,720 lifetime births in four of the seven markets we track. Our records carry it from 1940.
How popular is Mindy?
In 2025, Mindy was given to 75 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Mindy 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 Mindy
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Mindy also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Mindy over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Mindy 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 Mindy
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Mindy — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Mindy
What does the name Mindy mean?
Nothing settled. Melinda's second half is pretty; its first has never been traced.
Is Melinda an old name?
No — it has no history before the 1700s, the signature of a literary coinage.
Is Lucinda related?
Only in pattern. The -inda ending was productive at the same period.
How popular is Mindy?
2404th in the United States, down from a 1979 peak of 3,722 births.
Is Mindy a girl's or a boy's name?
Mindy is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Mindy?
Mindy has 2 syllables.
Is Mindy a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Mindy currently ranks #2,069 in the United States. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.