Lina
A feminine given name of Teutonic origin meaning "tender" or "soft".
Name Census estimates that about 13,931 living Americans carry the first name Lina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lina today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lina births was 2024 (530 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lina. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Lina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
14K
~ 1 in 24,604 Americans
Peak year
2024
530 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
1985 SSA rank
#567
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 28,813 people with the first name Lina, which placed it at #1,283 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,283
National first-name rank
People counted
29K
28,813 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
36.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lina is White at 36.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (36.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (20.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Lina described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Lina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White36.3% · 10,473
- Hispanic or Latino36.3% · 10,469
- Asian and Pacific Islander20.2% · 5,821
- Black or African American4.2% · 1,207
- Two or more races2.7% · 770
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 73
Gender
Gender distribution for Lina
Out of the 18,957 babies given the name Lina since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Lina as a male name
- Ranked #7,155 in 1985
- 5 male births in 1985
- Peak: 1985 (5 births)
Lina as a female name
- Ranked #567 in 2024
- 530 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (530 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lina appears almost entirely female. Of the 28,814 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Lina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lina from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,438 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Lina remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lina by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Lina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Linas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Lina, while Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 336 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lina
The name Lina has its origins in the Latin language and culture, dating back to ancient Roman times. It is derived from the Latin word "linum," which means "flax" or "linen." The name was likely given to girls born in families involved in the production or trade of linen fabrics.
During the Roman era, the name Lina was a diminutive form of the feminine name Lina, which itself was a shortened version of longer names like Lina or Linaria. It was a popular name among Roman women, particularly those from the lower and middle classes.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lina can be found in the writings of the Roman poet Ovid, who lived from 43 BC to 17 AD. In his work "Metamorphoses," he mentions a character named Lina, though it is unclear if this was a real person or a fictional character.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Lina. One of the most famous was Lina Cavalieri (1874-1944), an Italian opera singer and actress who was renowned for her beauty and talent. She performed in major opera houses across Europe and starred in several silent films during the early 20th century.
Another prominent figure was Lina Radke (1903-1983), a German athlete who won a gold medal in the javelin throw at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. She held the world record in her event for several years and was a pioneering figure in women's athletics.
In the realm of literature, Lina Kostenko (born 1930) is a celebrated Ukrainian poet and writer who has won numerous awards for her work, including the Shevchenko National Prize, Ukraine's highest honor for literature.
Lina Cavalieri (1874-1944) was an Italian opera singer and actress, renowned for her beauty and talent. She performed in major opera houses across Europe and starred in several silent films during the early 20th century.
Lina Radke (1903-1983) was a German athlete who won a gold medal in the javelin throw at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. She held the world record in her event for several years and was a pioneering figure in women's athletics.
While the name Lina has its roots in ancient Roman culture, it has endured and been embraced by various cultures and societies throughout history, with notable bearers of the name leaving their mark in fields as diverse as sports, literature, and the performing arts.
People
Lina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lina as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,931 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lina going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 24,604 US residents.
Is Lina a common name?
We classify Lina as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 18,957 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lina most popular?
The single biggest year for Lina was 2024, when 530 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lina is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 28,813 people with the name Lina, or 9.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,283 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Lina in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Lina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lina appears almost entirely female. Of the 28,814 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Lina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lina is White at 36.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (36.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (20.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Lina most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.3% (10,473 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Lina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lina in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Lina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lina in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Lina can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Lina?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.