Lin
Lin was given to 7 girls in 2025, #12,632 among girls’ names; 1,897 Americans have been recorded with it since 1898 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,370 Americans named Lin and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (72% of everyone recorded); the median is 60 years old and half are between 27 and 71.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Lin by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Lin mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Lin is “a male or female given name.”
/ˈlɪn/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Lin?
#12,632 among girls’ names, 2025
Lin rose from #15,619 in 2015 to #12,632 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 3.4 to 4.4 per million.
59 babies in 1959, the peak
Lin peaked in 1959, when 59 babies were given it (31 girls, #2,038 among girls’ names). The 7 births of 2025 are 12% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #12,632 | under 5 | |
| 2024 | 6 | #14,517 | 5 | #13,448 |
| 2023 | 5 | #16,599 | 9 | #8,643 |
| 2022 | 10 | #10,107 | 5 | #13,547 |
| 2021 | 7 | #12,950 | 6 | #11,584 |
| 2020 | 8 | #11,691 | under 5 | |
| 2019 | 13 | #8,410 | under 5 | |
| 2018 | 5 | #17,116 | under 5 | |
| 2017 | 5 | #17,363 | under 5 | |
| 2016 | 9 | #11,406 | 5 | #13,418 |
Every recorded year (109)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 6 | #15,619 | 6 | #11,554 |
| 2014 | 12 | #9,301 | 5 | #13,266 |
| 2013 | 7 | #14,033 | 7 | #10,305 |
| 2012 | 10 | #10,926 | 5 | #13,436 |
| 2011 | 5 | #18,412 | 8 | #9,272 |
| 2010 | 8 | #12,972 | 9 | #8,523 |
| 2009 | 10 | #11,143 | 6 | #11,886 |
| 2008 | 5 | #19,283 | 8 | #9,518 |
| 2007 | 11 | #10,540 | under 5 | |
| 2006 | 9 | #12,005 | 6 | #11,491 |
| 2005 | 16 | #7,346 | under 5 | |
| 2004 | 16 | #7,263 | 6 | #10,806 |
| 2003 | 17 | #6,772 | under 5 | |
| 2002 | 7 | #13,027 | under 5 | |
| 2001 | 12 | #8,513 | 6 | #10,037 |
| 2000 | 10 | #9,581 | under 5 | |
| 1999 | 10 | #9,201 | under 5 | |
| 1998 | 6 | #13,398 | under 5 | |
| 1997 | 7 | #11,531 | under 5 | |
| 1996 | 6 | #12,771 | under 5 | |
| 1995 | 10 | #8,454 | under 5 | |
| 1994 | 7 | #11,248 | under 5 | |
| 1993 | 11 | #7,818 | under 5 | |
| 1992 | 8 | #10,034 | under 5 | |
| 1991 | 5 | #14,428 | under 5 | |
| 1990 | 6 | #12,248 | 8 | #6,178 |
| 1989 | 6 | #11,697 | 5 | #8,694 |
| 1988 | 7 | #9,876 | 5 | #8,026 |
| 1987 | under 5 | 6 | #6,614 | |
| 1986 | 9 | #7,458 | 6 | #6,396 |
| 1985 | 11 | #6,282 | 5 | #7,147 |
| 1984 | 6 | #9,827 | under 5 | |
| 1983 | 10 | #6,480 | under 5 | |
| 1982 | 10 | #6,641 | under 5 | |
| 1981 | 7 | #8,637 | 5 | #6,876 |
| 1980 | 15 | #4,869 | 5 | #6,854 |
| 1977 | under 5 | 6 | #5,560 | |
| 1976 | 7 | #7,753 | under 5 | |
| 1975 | 6 | #8,588 | 6 | #5,184 |
| 1974 | 5 | #9,551 | 7 | #4,438 |
| 1973 | 6 | #7,971 | 7 | #4,329 |
| 1972 | 6 | #7,793 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | 9 | #5,798 | 6 | #4,709 |
| 1970 | 6 | #7,574 | 6 | #4,530 |
| 1969 | 10 | #4,891 | 11 | #2,790 |
| 1968 | 11 | #4,364 | 13 | #2,400 |
| 1967 | 12 | #3,964 | 12 | #2,422 |
| 1966 | 14 | #3,466 | 15 | #2,100 |
| 1965 | 11 | #4,085 | 9 | #2,905 |
| 1964 | 15 | #3,443 | 12 | #2,496 |
| 1963 | 21 | #2,743 | 15 | #2,165 |
| 1962 | 22 | #2,634 | 18 | #1,932 |
| 1961 | 15 | #3,407 | 21 | #1,800 |
| 1960 | 35 | #1,939 | 16 | #2,090 |
| 1959 | 31 | #2,038 | 28 | #1,516 |
| 1958 | 21 | #2,541 | 18 | #1,933 |
| 1957 | 34 | #1,887 | 16 | #2,063 |
| 1956 | 19 | #2,677 | 24 | #1,626 |
| 1955 | 31 | #1,929 | 20 | #1,761 |
| 1954 | 28 | #2,003 | 17 | #1,934 |
| 1953 | 27 | #1,991 | 27 | #1,468 |
| 1952 | 35 | #1,666 | 18 | #1,833 |
| 1951 | 23 | #2,089 | 20 | #1,710 |
| 1950 | 20 | #2,219 | 17 | #1,856 |
| 1949 | 20 | #2,248 | 15 | #1,991 |
| 1948 | 23 | #2,048 | 19 | #1,741 |
| 1947 | 19 | #2,320 | 19 | #1,762 |
| 1946 | 13 | #2,815 | 14 | #1,995 |
| 1945 | 7 | #3,857 | 16 | #1,737 |
| 1944 | 12 | #2,707 | 15 | #1,857 |
| 1943 | 8 | #3,675 | 19 | #1,675 |
| 1942 | 9 | #3,322 | 17 | #1,774 |
| 1941 | 12 | #2,603 | 9 | #2,581 |
| 1940 | 10 | #2,871 | 10 | #2,418 |
| 1939 | 6 | #4,045 | 7 | #3,002 |
| 1938 | 5 | #4,693 | under 5 | |
| 1937 | 7 | #3,643 | 5 | #3,825 |
| 1936 | under 5 | 8 | #2,762 | |
| 1935 | under 5 | 6 | #3,478 | |
| 1934 | under 5 | 6 | #3,518 | |
| 1933 | under 5 | 8 | #2,884 | |
| 1932 | under 5 | 11 | #2,403 | |
| 1931 | under 5 | 5 | #4,098 | |
| 1930 | 5 | #4,936 | 10 | #2,707 |
| 1929 | under 5 | 7 | #3,423 | |
| 1928 | under 5 | 9 | #2,973 | |
| 1927 | under 5 | 9 | #3,048 | |
| 1926 | under 5 | 8 | #3,280 | |
| 1925 | under 5 | 11 | #2,681 | |
| 1924 | under 5 | 7 | #3,698 | |
| 1923 | under 5 | 12 | #2,539 | |
| 1922 | under 5 | 7 | #3,720 | |
| 1921 | under 5 | 5 | #4,700 | |
| 1919 | under 5 | 9 | #3,021 | |
| 1918 | under 5 | 5 | #4,533 | |
| 1917 | 5 | #4,980 | 6 | #3,797 |
| 1916 | under 5 | 7 | #3,368 | |
| 1913 | under 5 | 5 | #3,074 | |
| 1898 | under 5 | 5 | #1,232 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Lin a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,897 Americans recorded as Lin, 55% are girls and 45% boys. In 2025 it went to 7 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Lin: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Lin, and how old are they?
1,370 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 72% of the 1,897 Americans ever recorded as Lin. The median Lin alive today is 60 years old; half are between 27 and 71.
The 2020 Census counted 10,717 people named Lin (7,571 women and girls, 3,146 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,417 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7.6 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Lin rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 75 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 586 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 197 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 153 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 211 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 147 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 7 names spelled alike, given to 248,277 babies since 1880, Lin is the third most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 7 of their 121 babies (5.8%), the fourth most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Lin
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Lin and names like it
- Compare Lin and LynnBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sLin peaked in 1959.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Lin since 1910.
- The top names of 1959The year the most babies were named Lin.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Lin alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with LMost given first.