Lindy
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a diminutive of Linda.
Name Census estimates that about 8,344 living Americans carry the first name Lindy. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Lindy today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lindy births was 1979 (318 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lindy. 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 Lindy with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
8.3K
~ 1 in 41,078 Americans
Peak year
1979
318 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2012 SSA rank
#1,947
Tracked since 1885
Census
Lindy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,025 people with the first name Lindy, which placed it at #2,631 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
#2,631
National first-name rank
People counted
9.0K
9,025 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lindy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lindy is White at 82.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.1%). 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 Lindy 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 Lindy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.7% · 7,462
- Hispanic or Latino5.5% · 500
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 367
- Black or African American3.8% · 341
- Two or more races3.0% · 271
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 84
Gender
Gender distribution for Lindy
Lindy leans heavily female at 83.1% of total registrations, but 1,776 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Lindy as a male name
- Ranked #11,687 in 2012
- 6 male births in 2012
- Peak: 1927 (235 births)
Lindy as a female name
- Ranked #1,947 in 2024
- 102 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1979 (310 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lindy leans strongly female. 8,230 people counted with this name were female (91.1%), compared with 802 male bearers (8.9%).
Popularity
Lindy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lindy 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 1,838 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
Lindy 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 Lindy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lindys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Lindy, while District of Columbia, Nebraska, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 123 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lindy
The name Lindy is a diminutive form of the name Linda, which is derived from the Spanish and Portuguese name Lindo, meaning "pretty" or "beautiful." The name Lindy likely originated in the late 19th or early 20th century as a nickname for the more formal name Linda.
While the name Lindy does not have a long history or deep cultural roots, it has been used by several notable individuals throughout the 20th century. One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Lindy was for the American aviator Charles Lindbergh, who was nicknamed "Lindy" after his famous solo transatlantic flight in 1927.
Another famous person named Lindy was the American dancer and choreographer Lindy Hop, whose real name was Soledad "Shorty" Greaves (1913-2001). Greaves was a pioneer of the Lindy Hop dance, which was named after Charles Lindbergh's nickname and became popular in the 1930s and 1940s.
In the world of entertainment, Lindy Lane (1932-2021) was an American actress and dancer who appeared in several films and television shows in the 1950s and 1960s. Additionally, Lindy Booth (born 1979) is a Canadian actress known for her roles in various television series and films.
In the realm of sports, Lindy McDaniel (1935-2020) was an American professional baseball player who played as a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1957 to 1975.
While the name Lindy may not have a deep historical or cultural significance, it has been worn by several notable individuals throughout the 20th century, particularly in the fields of aviation, dance, entertainment, and sports.
People
Lindy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lindy 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
Lindy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lindy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,344 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lindy 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 41,078 US residents.
Is Lindy a common name?
We classify Lindy as "Rare". It ranks above 97.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,540 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lindy most popular?
The single biggest year for Lindy was 1979, when 318 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lindy is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lindy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,025 people with the name Lindy, or 2.99 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,631 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 Lindy 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 Lindy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lindy leans strongly female. 8,230 people counted with this name were female (91.1%), compared with 802 male bearers (8.9%). 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 Lindy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lindy is White at 82.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.1%). 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 Lindy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lindy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.7% (7,462 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 Lindy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lindy a female name?
Yes, 83.1% of people registered as Lindy 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 Lindy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lindy 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 Lindy 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 Lindy?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.