Linda

What Linda means

Means “tender, soft”

Latinised short form of Germanic compound names ending in -lind, -linde (“tender, soft”) (English -inda), such as Sieglinde and Dietlinde, and earlier names such as Old High German Irmilinda and Old Dutch Frithelind, from Proto-Germanic *li

Source: Wiktionary, “Linda” (revision 94081643), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Linda?

US: Falling: down from #664 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #1088 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1948, when 96,220 girls got the name (#1 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 5,467 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 16,885 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in PA (0.79 per 1,000 girls), AR (0.47 per 1,000 girls), KY (0.46 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Linda is #902 in the US and #1892 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Linda were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Lindy131 US
• Lyndi44 US
• Lynda30 US
• Lyndy27 US
• Lundy8 US
• Lindi6 US
• Lindee6 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Nicknames

• Lindie
• Lindy
• Lyn

Listed on Wiktionary under “pet forms”.

If you like Linda

Girls

• Alicia#460Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1984, with 7,820 babies; 672 in 2025
• Anne#619Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1959, with 5,745 babies; 472 in 2025
• Alison#476“of noble kind”^*
• Allison#103Form of Elon, meaning “oak tree”^*
• Alyssa#453“a plant of the genus Alyssum”^*
• Karla#799Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1964, with 2,060 babies; 340 in 2025

For a brother

• Frank#513Form of Francis, meaning “Frankish (man); a Frank”^*
• Ronald#637“advice + power”^*
• Robert#92“shining glory”^*
• Dustin#728possibly “Thor s stone”^*
• Richard#234“king, ruler + hard, brave”^*
• Jeffrey#552Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #552 vs #1,705 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Germanic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Linda’s. Rank is US 2025.