Lyndsey
From a Germanic name meaning "from the linden tree covered territory".
Name Census estimates that about 13,811 living Americans carry the first name Lyndsey. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lyndsey today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lyndsey births was 1990 (687 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lyndsey. 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 Lyndsey with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
14K
~ 1 in 24,817 Americans
Peak year
1990
687 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2004 SSA rank
#7,791
Tracked since 1964
Census
Lyndsey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,476 people with the first name Lyndsey, which placed it at #2,029 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
#2,029
National first-name rank
People counted
13K
13,476 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lyndsey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lyndsey is White at 86.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.3%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Lyndsey 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 Lyndsey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.1% · 11,599
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 708
- Two or more races3.7% · 495
- Black or African American3.2% · 429
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 166
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 79
Gender
Gender distribution for Lyndsey
Out of the 14,406 babies given the name Lyndsey since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Lyndsey as a male name
- Ranked #12,491 in 2004
- 5 male births in 2004
- Peak: 1984 (6 births)
Lyndsey as a female name
- Ranked #7,791 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (687 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lyndsey appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,474 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Lyndsey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lyndsey from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 5,862 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
Lyndsey 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 Lyndsey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lyndseys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Lyndsey, while Wyoming, Vermont, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 256 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lyndsey
The name Lyndsey is an English variant of the Scottish surname Lindsay, which is derived from the region of Linsay or Lindsey in Lincolnshire, England. The name itself can be traced back to the Old English words "lind" meaning "lime tree" and "ea" meaning "island" or "river."
The earliest recorded use of the name Lyndsey dates back to the late 19th century, when it began to gain popularity as a feminine given name. It was likely influenced by the increasing use of surnames as given names during this period.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Lyndsey was Lyndsey Savage, an American actress born in 1904. She appeared in several films during the 1920s and 1930s.
Another notable Lyndsey was Lyndsey Anderson (1923-1994), a British film director and writer. He is best known for his satirical films such as "O Lucky Man!" and "Britannia Hospital."
In literature, the name Lyndsey appears in the novel "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck, published in 1939. The character Lyndsey Jennings is a preacher who helps the Joad family on their journey.
In the world of sports, Lyndsey Fry (born 1985) is an American ice hockey player who has represented the United States in several Olympic Games, winning silver medals in 2010 and 2014.
Lyndsey Webster (born 1989) is a British singer and songwriter who rose to fame as a contestant on the TV talent show "The X Factor" in 2009. She has since released several successful albums and singles.
People
Lyndsey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lyndsey 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
Lyndsey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lyndsey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,811 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lyndsey 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 24,817 US residents.
Is Lyndsey a common name?
We classify Lyndsey 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, 14,406 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lyndsey most popular?
The single biggest year for Lyndsey was 1990, when 687 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lyndsey is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lyndsey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,476 people with the name Lyndsey, or 4.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,029 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 Lyndsey 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 Lyndsey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lyndsey appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,474 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Lyndsey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lyndsey is White at 86.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.3%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Lyndsey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lyndsey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.1% (11,599 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 Lyndsey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lyndsey a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Lyndsey 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 Lyndsey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lyndsey 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 Lyndsey 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 have Lyndsey as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.