Lindsey
A feminine name of English origin meaning "from the linden tree valley".
Name Census estimates that about 155,078 living Americans carry the first name Lindsey. It is a predominantly female name (95.3% of registrations). The average person named Lindsey today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lindsey births was 1984 (9,120 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lindsey. 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 Lindsey with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Lindsey started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Although Lindsey is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 7,735 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Lindsey have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
155K
~ 1 in 2,210 Americans
Peak year
1984
9,120 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,285
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lindsey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 147,979 people with the first name Lindsey, which placed it at #375 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
#375
National first-name rank
People counted
148K
147,979 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
49.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lindsey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lindsey is White at 86.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.4%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Lindsey 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 Lindsey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.7% · 128,242
- Hispanic or Latino5.4% · 8,017
- Two or more races3.1% · 4,587
- Black or African American2.7% · 3,967
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 2,274
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 892
Gender
Gender distribution for Lindsey
Lindsey leans heavily female at 95.3% of total registrations, but 7,735 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Lindsey as a male name
- Ranked #10,465 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1954 (169 births)
Lindsey as a female name
- Ranked #1,285 in 2024
- 180 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1984 (9,006 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lindsey leans strongly female. 143,983 people counted with this name were female (97.3%), compared with 4,002 male bearers (2.7%).
Popularity
Lindsey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lindsey from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 73,024 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lindsey 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 Lindsey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lindseys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Lindsey, while District of Columbia, Vermont, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,113 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lindsey
Lindsey is an English given name derived from the Old English word "lindesig" which means "from the linden trees". The name has its origins in the Anglo-Saxon regions of England and dates back to the Middle Ages. It was originally a surname referring to someone who lived near a linden tree or a grove of linden trees.
The earliest recorded use of Lindsey as a given name is from the 13th century, when it was primarily used as a masculine name. Over time, it transitioned to become more commonly used as a feminine name. The name was particularly popular in the English counties of Lincolnshire and Norfolk, where the linden tree was abundant.
One of the earliest notable bearers of the name was Lindsey of Tolvern, a 14th-century English nobleman who fought in the Hundred Years' War. Another early example is Lindsey Nicholas, an English Protestant martyr who was burned at the stake in 1555 during the Marian Persecutions.
In more recent history, some notable individuals named Lindsey include:
1. Lindsey Buckingham (born 1949), American singer-songwriter and lead guitarist of Fleetwood Mac.
2. Lindsey Davis (born 1949), English novelist best known for her historical detective novels set in ancient Rome.
3. Lindsey Vonn (born 1984), American former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist.
4. Lindsey Stirling (born 1986), American violinist, dancer, and composer known for her choreographed violin performances.
5. Lindsey Graham (born 1955), American politician and senior United States Senator from South Carolina.
While the name Lindsey has been more commonly used for females in recent decades, it has a rich historical background as a masculine name, with roots dating back to the Anglo-Saxon era and the linden trees that were once abundant in parts of England.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Lindsey
People
Lindsey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lindsey 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
Lindsey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lindsey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 155,078 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lindsey 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 2,210 US residents.
Is Lindsey a common name?
We classify Lindsey as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 165,125 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lindsey most popular?
The single biggest year for Lindsey was 1984, when 9,120 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lindsey is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lindsey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 147,979 people with the name Lindsey, or 48.99 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #375 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 Lindsey 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 Lindsey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lindsey leans strongly female. 143,983 people counted with this name were female (97.3%), compared with 4,002 male bearers (2.7%). 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 Lindsey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lindsey is White at 86.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.4%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Lindsey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lindsey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.7% (128,242 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 Lindsey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lindsey a female name?
Yes, 95.3% of people registered as Lindsey 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 Lindsey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lindsey 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 Lindsey 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 share the name Lindsey?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.