Linette
A French diminutive of the name Lina, meaning "pretty and gentle".
Name Census estimates that about 3,669 living Americans carry the first name Linette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Linette today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Linette births was 1970 (156 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Linette. 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 Linette with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.7K
~ 1 in 93,419 Americans
Peak year
1970
156 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,707
Tracked since 1925
Census
Linette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,244 people with the first name Linette, which placed it at #4,421 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
#4,421
National first-name rank
People counted
4.2K
4,244 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Linette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Linette is White at 42.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (34.6%) and Black (16.8%). 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 Linette 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 Linette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.3% · 1,797
- Hispanic or Latino34.6% · 1,467
- Black or African American16.8% · 713
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 146
- Two or more races2.0% · 84
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 37
Popularity
Linette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Linette from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 1,077 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Linette 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 Linette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Linettes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Linette, while Oregon, North Carolina, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 85 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Linette
The name Linette is derived from the French word "linotte," which means a small bird known as the linnet or common linnet. The linnet bird is native to Europe and found across the continent. The name can be traced back to the 17th century when it first appeared as a feminine form of the French name Lin, which itself comes from the Latin name Linus.
Linette was a relatively uncommon name in historical records, but it did appear in various literary works. One of the earliest known mentions of the name was in the 1684 French play "La Princesse de Clèves" by Madame de La Fayette, where a character named Linette is briefly mentioned. The name also appeared in the 1789 novel "Les Liaisons dangereuses" (Dangerous Liaisons) by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Linette was Linette de Rochefort, a French noblewoman who lived in the late 16th century. She was a lady-in-waiting at the court of King Henry IV of France. Another notable figure was Linette Freres, a French painter and engraver who lived from 1788 to 1848 and was known for her portraits and landscapes.
In the 19th century, Linette Muir (1835-1916) was a Scottish novelist and poet who wrote several works of fiction and poetry. Another Linette of note was Linette Fedder (1859-1938), a Danish actress and singer who performed in numerous stage productions and operas in Denmark and Sweden.
In more recent history, Linette Beaumont (1919-1998) was a British actress and singer who appeared in several films and television shows in the mid-20th century. She is perhaps best remembered for her role in the 1951 film "The Man in the White Suit."
While not as common as some other names, Linette has maintained a presence throughout history, appearing in various literary works and carried by individuals in different fields, from art and literature to the performing arts.
People
Linette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Linette 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
Linette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Linette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,669 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Linette 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 93,419 US residents.
Is Linette a common name?
We classify Linette as "Rare". It ranks above 95.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,278 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Linette most popular?
The single biggest year for Linette was 1970, when 156 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Linette is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Linette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,244 people with the name Linette, or 1.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,421 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 Linette 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 Linette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Linette appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,238 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Linette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Linette is White at 42.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (34.6%) and Black (16.8%). 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 Linette most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Linette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.3% (1,797 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 Linette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Linette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Linette 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 Linette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Linette 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 Linette 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 Americans are named Linette?
Want to know how many people have the name Linette? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.