Lynette
A feminine French diminutive of the Germanic name Linda, "pretty one".
Name Census estimates that about 33,679 living Americans carry the first name Lynette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lynette today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lynette births was 1965 (1,412 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lynette. 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 Lynette with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Lynette is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 53 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Lynette have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
34K
~ 1 in 10,177 Americans
Peak year
1965
1,412 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
1976 SSA rank
#2,726
Tracked since 1897
Census
Lynette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 37,425 people with the first name Lynette, which placed it at #1,104 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
#1,104
National first-name rank
People counted
37K
37,425 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
12.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lynette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lynette is White at 63.6%. The next largest groups are Black (19.2%) and Hispanic (9.9%). 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 Lynette 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 Lynette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.6% · 23,816
- Black or African American19.2% · 7,167
- Hispanic or Latino9.9% · 3,699
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 1,231
- Two or more races2.8% · 1,057
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 455
Gender
Gender distribution for Lynette
Out of the 43,379 babies given the name Lynette since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Lynette as a male name
- Ranked #6,137 in 1976
- 5 male births in 1976
- Peak: 1971 (7 births)
Lynette as a female name
- Ranked #2,726 in 2024
- 63 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1965 (1,412 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lynette appears almost entirely female. Of the 37,429 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Lynette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lynette from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 12,775 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
Lynette 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 Lynette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lynettes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Lynette, while Vermont, Delaware, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 796 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lynette
The name Lynette finds its origins in the Old French language, derived from the Germanic name Lindīt, which is composed of the elements "lind" meaning "soft, tender, or lime tree" and "hild" meaning "battle." It emerged during the Middle Ages, likely as a diminutive form of other names with the "Lind-" prefix, such as Linda or Lindsey.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lynette appears in the 12th-century medieval romance "Le Chevalier de la Charrette" by Chrétien de Troyes, where it is the name of a character who aids Sir Lancelot on his quest. This literary reference contributed to the name's popularity in medieval Europe.
In the 14th century, a noblewoman named Lynette de Saussay was recorded as holding lands in Normandy, France. This early record demonstrates the use of the name among the aristocracy of the time.
Another notable historical figure bearing the name Lynette was Lynette Roberts, a British poet and writer born in 1909 and died in 1995. She was associated with the Modernist movement and her works explored themes of identity and the human experience.
The name Lynette also has a connection to the Arthurian legends, as it was the name of a character in Alfred Tennyson's 19th-century poem "Idylls of the King." This literary connection further cemented the name's association with medieval romance and chivalry.
In the world of music, Lynette Hawkins, better known as Jazzy B, was a British rapper and singer born in 1963. She was a pioneer in the UK's bhangra and hip-hop scenes, and her stage name paid tribute to her given name.
Another famous Lynette was Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, an American convicted of attempting to assassinate former U.S. President Gerald Ford in 1975. While her actions were controversial, her unique nickname contributed to the name's recognition.
Throughout its history, the name Lynette has maintained a sense of softness and grace, reflecting its Old French and Germanic roots, while also carrying connotations of strength and resilience, as evidenced by the literary and historical figures who have borne this name.
People
Lynette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lynette 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
Lynette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lynette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 33,679 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lynette 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 10,177 US residents.
Is Lynette a common name?
We classify Lynette as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 43,379 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lynette most popular?
The single biggest year for Lynette was 1965, when 1,412 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lynette is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lynette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 37,425 people with the name Lynette, or 12.39 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,104 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 Lynette 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 Lynette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lynette appears almost entirely female. Of the 37,429 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 Lynette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lynette is White at 63.6%. The next largest groups are Black (19.2%) and Hispanic (9.9%). 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 Lynette most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lynette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.6% (23,816 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 Lynette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lynette a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Lynette 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 Lynette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lynette 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 Lynette 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 common is the name Lynette?
Want to know how many Americans are named Lynette? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.