Meaning and history
Linda originated as a medieval short form of Germanic names containing the element lind, meaning “soft, flexible, tender” (Proto-Germanic * linþaz), and it also matches the Spanish and Portuguese word linda, meaning “beautiful.” In the English-speaking world, the name rose sharply in popularity starting in the 1930s, reached its peak in the late 1940s, and then declined soon afterward; in the United States, it was the most popular girls’ name from 1947 to 1952.
20062006: 700 births, rank #451
2007: 662 births, rank #492
2008: 614 births, rank #507
2009: 555 births, rank #548
2010: 480 births, rank #614
20112011: 491 births, rank #587
2012: 450 births, rank #633
2013: 447 births, rank #626
2014: 475 births, rank #612
2015: 429 births, rank #664
20162016: 444 births, rank #658
2017: 410 births, rank #704
2018: 398 births, rank #717
2019: 362 births, rank #768
2020: 334 births, rank #814
20212021: 328 births, rank #841
2022: 352 births, rank #800
2023: 324 births, rank #841
2024: 324 births, rank #836
20252025: 294 births, rank #902
Linda climbed to #1 for girls from 1947 through 1952. It remains prominent at #902 in 2025. Its highest annual birth count came in 1947, with 99,692 births.