Humanverse

Lindsey vs Linwood

American parents have registered 165,286 Lindseys since 1880, against 12,781 Linwoods. Lindsey is still ahead, with 161 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Lindsey Linwood

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

Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Lindsey for 81 years and Linwood for 65 years. The lead changed hands 10 times.

Side by side

  Lindsey Linwood
Total US births 165,28612,781
Most in one year 9,119276
Babies in 2025 161under 5
Estimated living today 158,0005,700
Median age today 3665
Peak year 19841948
Best rank 35th girls409th boys
Rank in 2025 1,367thunranked
First recorded 18801880
Girls / boys 157,551 / 7,7355 / 12,776

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 Linwoods alive today are over 65; half the Lindseys are over 36. That is 29 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 Linwood.