Humanverse

Linnie vs Linwood

American parents have registered 12,781 Linwoods since 1880, against 8,709 Linnies. But in 2025 it was Linnie that was commoner, 14 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Linnie against Linwood, 1880 to 2025 0 80 160 240 320 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Linnie 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, Linwood for 98 years and Linnie for 48 years. The lead changed hands 6 times.

Side by side

  Linnie Linwood
Total US births 8,70912,781
Most in one year 191276
Babies in 2025 14under 5
Estimated living today 1,9005,700
Median age today 7165
Peak year 19211948
Best rank 528th girls409th boys
Rank in 2025 7,491stunranked
First recorded 18801880
Girls / boys 7,997 / 7125 / 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 Linnies alive today are over 71; half the Linwoods are over 65. That is 6 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: Linnie and Linwood.