Humanverse

Linda vs Lindol

American parents have registered 1,458,899 Lindas since 1880, against 6 Lindols. Linda is still ahead, with 294 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Linda against Lindol, 1880 to 2025 0 25k 50k 75k 100k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Linda Lindol

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Linda has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1935, when Linda had 1,207 and Lindol had 6.

Side by side

  Linda Lindol
Total US births 1,458,8996
Most in one year 99,9086
Babies in 2025 294under 5
Estimated living today 1.1 million1
Median age today 7290
Peak year 19471935
Best rank 1st girls3,252nd boys
Rank in 2025 902ndunranked
First recorded 18801935
Girls / boys 1,455,143 / 3,7560 / 6

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Lindols alive today are over 90; half the Lindas are over 72. That is 18 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Linda and Lindol.