Lynnsey
A feminine variant of the Old Norse name Lynnae or Lina meaning "lake".
Name Census estimates that about 747 living Americans carry the first name Lynnsey. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lynnsey today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lynnsey births was 1989 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lynnsey. 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 Lynnsey with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
747
~ 1 in 458,841 Americans
Peak year
1989
38 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,683
Tracked since 1978
Census
Lynnsey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 701 people with the first name Lynnsey, which placed it at #16,182 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
#16,182
National first-name rank
People counted
701
701 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lynnsey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lynnsey is White at 86.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.4%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Lynnsey 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 Lynnsey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.7% · 608
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 31
- Two or more races3.3% · 23
- Black or African American3.0% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 5
Popularity
Lynnsey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lynnsey from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 270 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
Lynnsey 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 Lynnsey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lynnseys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Lynnsey
The name Lynnsey is an English variant of the Scottish name Lindsey, which is derived from the Old English place name "Lindesig" or "Lindesege." This place name referred to the region of Lindsey, a former kingdom and county in modern-day Lincolnshire, England. The name Lindsey is believed to have originated from the Old English words "lind," meaning "lime tree," and "ēg," meaning "island" or "region surrounded by water."
Historically, the name Lindsey was popular in the British Isles, particularly in Scotland and England. It has been recorded as a surname in England as early as the 12th century. However, its use as a given name became more prevalent in the 19th and 20th centuries, likely influenced by the rise of surnames as first names.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Lynnsey was Lynnsey de Stafford, a knight and landowner from Staffordshire, England, who lived in the late 13th century. Another notable figure was Lynnsey de Bohun, a Scottish nobleman and military commander who fought in the Wars of Scottish Independence during the 14th century.
In more recent history, Lynnsey Addario is an American photojournalist and author, born in 1973, known for her work covering conflicts and humanitarian crises around the world. Lynnsey Kraible is an American actress and model, born in 1983, who has appeared in various television shows and films.
Other notable individuals with the name Lynnsey include Lynnsey Gardner, an American singer-songwriter and musician, born in 1981; Lynnsey Shortall, an Irish politician and member of the European Parliament, born in 1976; and Lynnsey Narozny, a Canadian softball player who competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
While the name Lynnsey may have roots in Old English and Scottish history, its popularity as a given name has risen in more recent times, likely influenced by the trend of using surnames as first names and the desire for unique and distinctive names.
People
Lynnsey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lynnsey 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
Lynnsey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lynnsey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 747 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lynnsey 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 458,841 US residents.
Is Lynnsey a common name?
We classify Lynnsey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 775 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lynnsey most popular?
The single biggest year for Lynnsey was 1989, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lynnsey is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lynnsey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 701 people with the name Lynnsey, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,182 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 Lynnsey 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 Lynnsey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lynnsey appears almost entirely female. Of the 703 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Lynnsey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lynnsey is White at 86.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.4%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Lynnsey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lynnsey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.7% (608 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 Lynnsey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lynnsey a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lynnsey 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 Lynnsey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lynnsey 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 Lynnsey 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 named Lynnsey?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.