Linford
From a wooded vale near a flowing stream.
Name Census estimates that about 360 living Americans carry the first name Linford. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Linford today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Linford births was 1921 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Linford. 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 Linford with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
360
~ 1 in 952,095 Americans
Peak year
1921
20 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2019 SSA rank
#13,337
Tracked since 1896
Census
Linford in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 588 people with the first name Linford, which placed it at #18,347 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
#18,347
National first-name rank
People counted
588
588 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Linford
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Linford is White at 61.2%. The next largest groups are Black (33.0%) and Hispanic (1.5%). 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 Linford 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 Linford at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.2% · 360
- Black or African American33.0% · 194
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 9
- Two or more races1.5% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 7
Popularity
Linford: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Linford from the 1890s through to the 2010s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 144 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Linford 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 Linford during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Linfords live
Origin
Meaning and history of Linford
Linford is a given name of Anglo-Saxon origin, derived from the Old English words "lind" meaning "lime tree" and "ford" meaning "a shallow place for crossing a river or stream." This suggests that the name may have originated in areas of England where lime trees grew near fords or river crossings.
The earliest known record of the name Linford dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as a place name referring to a settlement near a lime tree ford. However, its use as a personal name likely predates this record, as many Anglo-Saxon place names were derived from the given names of their founders or early inhabitants.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Linford was Linford of Buckinghamshire, a landowner mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of 1176. These rolls were financial records kept by the English Exchequer, indicating that the name was in use among the Anglo-Saxon gentry in the 12th century.
In the 13th century, there are records of a Linford de Woodhouse, a knight from Yorkshire who took part in the Barons' War against King John in 1215. This suggests that the name was also present among the nobility of medieval England.
During the Renaissance period, a notable figure named Linford Hewett (1559-1637) was an English clergyman and author who wrote several religious works, including a commentary on the Book of Proverbs.
In the 18th century, Linford Lister (1716-1783) was a prominent English naturalist and physician who made significant contributions to the study of conchology (the study of mollusc shells) and published several works on the subject.
Another individual of historical note was Linford Christie (born 1960), a former British sprinter who won numerous Olympic and World Championship gold medals in the 100m and 200m events during the 1980s and 1990s. He was one of the most successful and celebrated British athletes of his era.
While not as common as some other Anglo-Saxon names, Linford has maintained a presence throughout English history, with notable bearers of the name spanning various fields, including religion, science, and sports.
People
Linford + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Linford 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
Linford: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Linford?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 360 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Linford 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 952,095 US residents.
Is Linford a common name?
We classify Linford as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 779 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Linford most popular?
The single biggest year for Linford was 1921, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Linford is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Linford in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 588 people with the name Linford, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,347 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 Linford 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 Linford?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Linford appears almost entirely male. Of the 589 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Linford?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Linford is White at 61.2%. The next largest groups are Black (33.0%) and Hispanic (1.5%). 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 Linford most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Linford in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.2% (360 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 Linford in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Linford a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Linford in the SSA data are male. 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 Linford still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Linford 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 Linford 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 Linford?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.