Humanverse

Lindsey vs Linnette

American parents have registered 165,286 Lindseys since 1880, against 1,144 Linnettes. Lindsey is still ahead, with 161 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Lindsey against Linnette, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Lindsey Linnette

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Lindsey has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1971, when Lindsey had 125 and Linnette had 36.

Side by side

  Lindsey Linnette
Total US births 165,2861,144
Most in one year 9,11936
Babies in 2025 161under 5
Estimated living today 158,0001,000
Median age today 3654
Peak year 19841971
Best rank 35th girls2,212th girls
Rank in 2025 1,367thunranked
First recorded 18801930
Girls / boys 157,551 / 7,7351,144 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Linnettes alive today are over 54; half the Lindseys are over 36. That is 18 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Lindsey and Linnette.